Pictures of a candidate in Tehran at the start of the (European) election campaign
Campaigns for the legislative elections scheduled for next March 1, which will be held in conjunction with the elections for the Leadership Assembly of Experts, began in Iran today, Thursday.
After considering candidacy applications over a period of 3 months, the Guardian Council approved a record number of candidates for the legislative elections, amounting to 15,200.
The election campaign began today with the hanging of a limited number of pictures of the candidates in the streets of Tehran on the first day of the weekend in the country, according to Agence France-Presse.
61 million Iranians have the right to participate in this ballot to choose the 290 members of the Islamic Shura Council (Parliament), for its 12th session over the next four years.
They will also choose the 88 members of the Leadership Council of Experts for an 8-year session, the sixth in the council’s history.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on the masses to participate in the elections, and also urged "influential figures" to encourage the population to vote.
A model of a ballot box in a street in Tehran urging citizens to vote (European)
For his part, the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Major General Hossein Salami, said today that the legislative elections are a “very fateful” event, and that the presence of the people in the arena pushes the enemies to review their accounts, according to press statements reported by the official news agency “IRNA.”
On the other hand, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on voters to participate in the vote to “protest against the ruling minority,” and did not call for a boycott despite the rejection of his candidacy for the Leadership Council of Experts, where he had been a member for 24 years.
But last Monday, former President Mohammad Khatami expressed his regret that Iran is very far from free and competitive elections, as he put it.
The Reform Front, the main coalition of reformist parties, announced that it would be absent from these elections, “which are devoid of any meaning and are useless in managing the country.”
These elections come after the protest movement that the country witnessed following the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, in September 2022, after she was arrested by the police for not respecting the country’s dress code.
There are also claims related to economic difficulties against the backdrop of hyperinflation.
Source: Al Jazeera + Iranian press + French