Hardline faction sweeps Iran poll

Conservatives have won Iran’s parliamentary election, boosted by a low turnout after the disqualification of nearly half the candidates.

President Hassan Rouhani, right, votes in Tehran on Friday. Picture: AFP

Conservatives have taken a huge chunk of seats in Iran’s parliamentary election, boosted by a low turnout following the disqualification of nearly half the candidates.

The official IRNA news agency said ballot counting had finished, with 201 out of 208 constituencies decided. The other seven relatively small constituencies will be decided in a run-off election later in April.

Tehran was the biggest catch in the election, with all 30 seats won by a hardline ­alliance of conservatives and ultra-conservatives.

Most votes went to the first three names on the alliance’s list, according to National Elections Committee spokesman Esmail Mousavi said.

Leading the race was Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a three-time presidential candidate, former police chief and member of the Revolutionary Guards who was Tehran mayor from 2005 to 2017.

Reformists and moderates hardly figured in the other names of “leading Tehran candidates”, Mr Mousavi said.

Friday’s election followed months of steeply escalating tensions between Iran and the US.

Voters had been expected to shun the polls, disillusioned by unfulfilled promises and struggling to cope in a country whose economy has buckled under harsh US sanctions.

About half of the 16,000-odd candidates were barred. Among them were many reformists and moderates — including dozens of sitting members of the Majles — leaving conservatives with virtually no competition.

If the conservatives’ resur­gence is confirmed, it will mean President Hassan Rouhani’s slender majority of reformists and moderates elected four years ago is nearly purged.

“A lot of people voted in the previous parliamentary election, but the enthusiasm faded away every day after that,” said Ali, a Tehran taxi driver. “And now there’s nothing to be hopeful about to go and vote,” added the 53-year-old, who abstained.

News outlets close to conservatives and ultra-conservatives had predicted a landslide win for their candidates across Iran. An unofficial tally published by Fars news agency said 241 members had already been decided, with conservative candidates winning 191.

Reformists were a distant second at 16, it said, adding independents had won 34 seats.

The state television website said most of the winners ­announced were fresh faces and only 10 were sitting MPs.

Fars tweeted that turnout in Tehran was 1.9 million out of more than nine million eligible voters. Many in the capital seem to have sat out the election, ­including Arghavan Aram, who manages an NGO for trans­sexuals. “An election with only one faction is not an election, it’s a selection,” she said.

Political figures across the spectrum discussed the cause of what may be a historically low turnout, even though final figures have yet to be released.

“Such a turnout is natural in an election where progressive ­reformists couldn’t present candidates due to unprecedented disqualifications,” Emad Bahavar, a reformist activist, tweeted.

Abdollah Ganji, editor-in-chief of ultra-conservative Javan daily, asked his Twitter followers about the low turnout, and those who responded said economic problems were the main cause.

Tweeting his congratulations to conservatives, right-wing figure Ezzatollah Zarghami said it would be “very important” to get to the root cause of the low turnout.

The 11th parliamentary election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution comes after a surge in tensions between Tehran and Washington, and Iran’s accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet that sparked anti-government protests.

Turnout was estimated at around 40 per cent nationwide and 30 per cent in Tehran at the scheduled close of polls, compared with 62 per cent in 2016. But authorities extended polling for another six hours to allow as many people as possible to vote.

Iran fell into a deep recession after US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions following Washington’s withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal in 2018.

AFP