A polling station in Tehran on February 21, 2020. - MORTEZA NIKOUBAZL / SIPA

The low participation will therefore have played into the hands of the hardliners of the regime. The conservatives claimed Sunday the victory in the legislative elections of Friday in Iran, marked by a strong abstention. Popular resentment against moderate President Hassan Rohani as the country is going through a severe economic crisis has prompted voters not to travel.

A second round on April 17

The Ministry of the Interior published in the afternoon the results for more than 95% of the constituencies, giving the names of the deputies elected in the first round, without specifying their political affiliation. These results reflect an unquestionable victory for the "principalists", an appellation which brings together all the tendencies of the conservative camp, down to the most ultra, according to several media of this movement. According to the website of the government daily Iran, 17 women are already elected, as many as in the outgoing parliament, and another qualified for the second round. The unicameral Parliament has 290 seats. According to Fars, the second round, scheduled for April 17, should take place in at least 11 constituencies.

Nationwide, turnout reached 42.57%, said Interior Minister Abdolréza Rahmani Fazli, the lowest level recorded for legislative elections since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Many observers had predicted a strong abstention after the massive disqualification by the electoral control body of reforming and moderate candidates, practically reducing the ballot to a competition between conservatives and ultra-conservatives.

"New slap to Trump"

President Rohani is under fire from critics of the conservative camp for his policy of openness symbolized by the international Iranian nuclear agreement concluded in Vienna in 2015. The decision of American President Donald Trump to denounce this pact and to reimpose sanctions in Tehran was followed, in Iran, by a violent recession from which the country is struggling to get out. "Victory of the anti-American candidates, new slap to Trump", logically titled Sunday morning the ultraconservative daily Keyhan, for whom "the people have disqualified the reformers".

In addition, Friday's poll was held two days after the announcement of the appearance of the new coronavirus in Iran, where according to the latest official figures, the epidemic has killed eight out of a total of 43 people infected. "We held these elections when we had various incidents in the country," said Minister Rahmani Fazli, and under these conditions, "the turnout seems perfectly acceptable to us." Iran’s Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised “the massive participation of the people in the elections,” according to his official website, accusing the foreign press of doing everything to “discourage people from going. vote ".

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  • Tehran
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  • Abstention