Despite Low Turnout, Hardliners Tighten Grip on Parliament in Iran

Interior Minister of Iran Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli announced that the turnout of the parliamentary elections reached 42.57 percent.

State-owned Tasnim News Agency reported that 24,512404 people out of 58 million eligible voters participated in the elections of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the midterm elections for the fifth session of the "Assembly of Experts Leadership".

“This is the lowest rate since the 1979 Islamic revolution,” Western reports described the turnout of the elections recently held in Iran.

The Iranian minister of interior noted that those who have objections can send their requests to the executive committees and they will be considered within a period of 7 days and after that it will be decided by the Guardian Council.

The final results of the elections in Tehran also indicated that the Principlists Coalition won all 30 seats in the Consultative Assembly, while the reformist movement did not obtain more than 10 percent of the vote in the elections.

Headed by former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the Principlists, interchangeably known as the Iranian Conservatives and formerly referred to as the Right or Right-wing, would have 70 percent of the seats in the parliament.

The coalition’s list acquired two thirds of the legislative council seats, and in Tehran it won three seats.

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said, "The enemy's propaganda started months ago, and intensified as the elections approached."

He stressed that the elections’ turnout was good, considering that some foreign media even took advantage of Corona virus infections to keep the Iranian people away from participating in the elections that started last Friday.

More than seven thousand candidates contested the electoral competition to win the 290 seats in Parliament, including five for minorities.

Western newspapers ruled out the support of the next parliament, the efforts made to negotiate a new nuclear agreement, or to respond to American demands, in terms of ending alliances in the region.