Iran Elections 2024: Iranian conservatives sweep polls amid record low turnout | 10 Updates
Iranian conservatives dominated the majority of seats in elections for a clerical body and the national legislature on Sunday, as reported by AFP citing local media. The turnout was estimated to be at a record low. Here are the top ten updates.
1. Authorities continued to tally ballots two days after Friday's vote for members of parliament and the Assembly of Experts, responsible for selecting Iran's supreme leader. This election marked the first since protests erupted following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.
2. The election, marred by a vetting process that disqualified numerous candidates, occurred against the backdrop of Iran grappling with a severe economic crisis exacerbated by international sanctions. Also Read: Iran's elections today: Litmus test as Iranians head to vote for parliamentary polls 3.
The official IRNA news agency estimated the turnout at approximately “41 per cent" among the 61 million eligible voters. However, no official figure had been announced at the time. 4.
The reformist daily Shargh predicted that the next parliament would be in the hands of radical conservatives who “took advantage of the opportunity created by the low participation". 5. Etemad, a reformist newspaper, indicated that turnout was lower in Iran's larger cities compared to smaller ones and highlighted a significant number of “blank votes." Concerns regarding a low turnout had been circulating prior to the elections, particularly after a state TV poll revealed that more than half of the respondents expressed indifference towards the elections, AFP reported.
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