Iran Election Turnout Hits Record Low, Hardliners Maintain Grip on Parliament

Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran March 3, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran March 3, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
TT
20

Iran Election Turnout Hits Record Low, Hardliners Maintain Grip on Parliament

Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran March 3, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iranians walk in a street in Tehran, Iran March 3, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Turnout in Iran's parliamentary election was around 41%, the country's interior minister said on Monday, the lowest participation since Iran's 1979 revolution that swept the clerical rulers into power.

Friday's election was seen as a test of the clerical establishment's legitimacy amid mounting economic struggles and a lack of electoral options for a mostly young population chafing at political and social restrictions.

"Some 25 million people out of over 61 million eligible Iranians voted in the March 1 election for the 290-seat legislature," Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told a televised news conference.

In the 2020 parliamentary election, turnout was 42.5%. About 62% of voters participated in 2016.

Authorities said the turnout "indicated the people's trust in the sacred system of the Islamic Republic".

Vahidi said invalid votes made up 5% of the total vote count. Some Iranian media reported that number to be as high as 30%, suggesting signs of disillusionment even among core supporters of the country.

"Authorities should listen to the silent majority ... and reform the governance method ... I hope they realize before it's too late to reverse the damage and harm this path will cause," state media quoted reformist politician Azar Mansouri as saying.

In some constituencies, where candidates failed to get the required minimum 20% of the votes cast, a run-off will be held in April, Vahidi said.

In Tehran, which accounts for 30 seats in parliament, a second round will be held for 16 seats.

The election was the first since anti-government protests in 2022-23 that spiraled into one of Iran's worst political turmoil since the revolution and quelled by a violent crackdown involving mass detentions and even executions.

With heavyweight moderates and conservatives staying out and reformists calling the election not free and unfair, the contest was essentially among hardliners and low-key conservatives, all proclaiming loyalty to revolutionary ideals.

Iran's parliament, dominated by hardliners for more than two decades, has little impact on foreign policy or Tehran's disputed nuclear program. These issues are determined by the country's top authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Activists and opposition groups, arguing that a high turnout would legitimize the Islamic Republic, had called for a boycott by widely distributing the hashtags #VOTENoVote and #ElectionCircus on the social media platform X.

Former president Mohammad Khatami, considered the spiritual leader of Iran's reformists, was among critics who did not vote on Friday.

Opposition critics say the ruling clerics are no longer capable of solving an economic crisis caused by a mix of mismanagement, corruption and US sanctions reimposed since 2018 when Washington ditched Tehran's nuclear pact with major powers.

The parliamentary election was twinned with a vote for the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, an influential body that has the task of choosing the 84-year-old Khamenei's successor.



US Issues New Sanctions Targeting Chinese Importers of Iranian Oil

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed miniature model of Donald Trump and the US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed miniature model of Donald Trump and the US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
TT
20

US Issues New Sanctions Targeting Chinese Importers of Iranian Oil

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed miniature model of Donald Trump and the US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed miniature model of Donald Trump and the US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The United States on Wednesday issued new sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, including against a China-based "teapot refinery", as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to ramp up pressure on Tehran.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement the action would increase pressure on Chinese importers of Iranian oil as Trump seeks to restore his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero, Reuters reported.
The action comes as the Trump administration has relaunched negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program this month, with talks in Oman last weekend and a second round expected in Rome this weekend.
The Treasury on Wednesday said it imposed sanctions on a China-based independent "teapot" refinery it accused of playing a role in purchasing more than $1 billion worth of Iranian crude oil.
Washington also issued additional sanctions on several companies and vessels it said were responsible for facilitating Iranian oil shipments to China as part of Iran's "shadow fleet".
Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York and China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China does not recognize US sanctions and is the largest importer of Iranian oil. China and Iran have built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the dollar and exposure to US regulators.
"Any refinery, company, or broker that chooses to purchase Iranian oil or facilitate Iran’s oil trade places itself at serious risk," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

"The United States is committed to disrupting all actors providing support to Iran’s oil supply chain, which the regime uses to support its terrorist proxies and partners."
The Treasury on Wednesday also updated guidance for shipping and maritime stakeholders on "detecting and mitigating Iranian oil sanctions evasion," warning, among other things, that Iran depends on a vast shadow fleet to disguise oil shipments.
The Treasury said it was the sixth round of sanctions targeting Iranian oil sales since Trump restored his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to help prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
In his first 2017-21 term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's uranium enrichment activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.
Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment.
Western powers accuse Iran of having a clandestine agenda to develop nuclear weapons capability by enriching uranium to a high level of fissile purity, above what they say is justifiable for a civilian atomic energy program. Tehran says its nuclear program is wholly for civilian power purposes.
"All sanctions will be fully enforced under the Trump Administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a separate statement on Wednesday.
"As long as Iran attempts to generate oil revenues to fund its destabilizing activities, the United States will hold both Iran and all its partners in sanctions evasion accountable."