Tehran says ‘enemies’ interfered

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader accused foreign media of trying to use a deadly coronavirus outbreak to sabotage a general election, as authorities scrambled yesterday to contain the disease.

The final results of the parliamentary election were due yesterday, two days after they were held on the heels of the confirmation of novel coronavirus cases in the country.

A low turnout had been widely forecast, as a conservative-dominated electoral watchdog disqualified about half the 16,000-odd candidates, mostly moderates and reformists.

Voter apathy marked the polls, but Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday lauded the people’s “huge participation” despite what he termed “this negative propaganda”.

It “began a few months ago and grew larger approaching the election and in the past two days, under the pretext of an illness and a virus”, he said.

“Their media did not miss the slightest opportunity to discourage people from voting. (Our enemies) are even opposed to any election by the Iranian people,” the leader was quoted as saying on his official website.

The Covid-19 outbreak has claimed the lives of five people in the Islamic republic since Wednesday. They were the first deaths from the disease in the Middle East.

Authorities ordered as a “preventive measure” the closure of schools, universities and other educational centres in 14 provinces across the country yesterday .

They include the holy city of Qom where the first cases of Covid-19 emerged as well as Markazi, Gilan, Ardabil, and the capital, Tehran.