Hardliners have won a majority of seats in Iran’s parliamentary elections, which drew a record low 41% turnout in the wake of calls for a boycott.
The BBC reports that analysts interpreted the turnout – 25 million of the 61 million eligible voters – as a reflection of popular disenchantment, this after the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had urged people to vote.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi also revealed that about 5% of the ballots cast were ‘invalid’, or spoilt.
According to the BBC, most moderate and reformist figures were disqualified from standing in Friday’s polls, the first since the 2022 nationwide protests.
Some 42% of those eligible voted in the last parliamentary elections in 2020. Turnout had been consistently above 50% before then.
The BBC reports that most of the successful candidates nationwide are considered to be conservative hardliners, who are staunchly loyal to the Islamic ruling system and are opposed to political or social freedoms.
Conservatives also dominated separate elections held on Friday for the Assembly of Experts – an 88-member clerical body that is responsible for appointing the next Supreme Leader when the time comes.
Ayatollah Khamenei – the Islamic Republic’s most powerful figure and commander-in-chief – is 84 and the new assembly will sit for eight years.
According to the BBC, as with the parliamentary polls, many prospective candidates were disqualified by the Guardian Council, a hardline watchdog made up of theologians and jurists.
Among those barred was former president Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who had previously served on the assembly for 24 years.