Iran votes in first polls since the 2022 protests
Iran on Friday held the country’s first parliamentary election since the mass 2022 protests over mandatory hijab laws after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, with questions looming over just how many people will turn out at the polls.
Iranian officials and even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have urged the public to cast ballots, but polling stations in the country’s capital, Tehran, appeared to see few voters.
Authorities have largely barred politicians calling for any change within the country’s theocracy, known broadly as reformists, from running in the election — leaving mostly only a broad slate of conservative or hard-line figures.
Iran’s economy continues to stagnate under Western sanctions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and the country’s arming of militia proxies in the Middle East and Russia in its war on Ukraine.
Some of the voters acknowledged the challenges facing the Islamic Republic.
“There are many problems; too many problems,” said one voter, who just gave her last name, Sajjad.
“We are sad, we are sorrowful and we voice our criticism as much as we can. God willing, those responsible (will) start thinking about us, and probably many of them do care.”
Khamenei, 84, cast one of the first votes in an election that also will see new members elected to the country’s Assembly of Experts. The panel of clerics, who serve an eight-year term, is mandated to select a new supreme leader if Khamenei steps down or dies, underscoring the panel’s increased importance, given Khamenei’s age.
He urged people to vote as soon as possible in the election, saying that both Iran’s friends and enemies were watching the turnout.
Khamenei’s protégé, hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, repeated that call and urged the public to make “a glorious day for the Iranian nation.”
More recently, the parliament has focused on issues surrounding Iran’s mandatory head covering, or hijab, for women after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Amini in police custody, which sparked nationwide protests.
The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed over 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained.