• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Iranians Vote for First Time Since Nuclear Agreement

by Edward Yeranian February 26, 2016

Iranians are casting their ballots Friday for the first time since the country's nuclear deal with world powers took effect. The vote may provide the first clue as to whether key Western proponents of the deal will receive what they hoped for: a more open, moderate Iran.

Iranian State TV called Friday a "great day for the nation," as citizens across the country turned out to vote for the country's parliament and the Guardian Council, which selects Iran's Supreme Leader.

The head of Iran's electoral commission, Mohamed Hossein Moqeemi, told state TV that 55 million people were eligible to vote and that results from thousands of ballot boxes will be tabulated. He said that voting hours could be extended if turnout is heavy.

Voting for future

State TV showed voters across Iran giving their reasons for their choices. A man with a young child said he was "voting for his children's future," while an older woman said she wanted to "foil Iran's enemies, who are plotting against the country."

A correspondent for Iran's Al Alam TV at a major Tehran polling station said turnout was "beyond expectations," and that "long lines of voters had shown up," to "express their support for their country and its Islamic system."

Bani Sadr: voters 'apathetic'

Former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who lives in exile in Paris, disputed reports of long lines, telling VOA that voters were "apathetic" in many places.

He says that reports he had received from inside the country indicate that apart from several "showcase" polling stations in the capital, turnout at other places was often no more than several dozen people.

Political analyst Mohamed Ali Mirzani told the TV Iranian electors like to vote at odds to the way foreign countries want them to vote in order to quash threats posed from abroad. He said voters know their participation is important in deciding the fate of their country.

Former president Bani Sadr argues that the election for Iran's Assembly of Experts is more important than that of parliament, because it will "probably elect Iran's next Supreme Leader, given the frail health of current leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." He said the "moderates" close to former president Hashemi Rafsanjani will be "heavily reduced" in the new body, "making it certain that allies of Ayatollah Khamenei will be able to hand pick his successor."