IRAN: Glitzy posters of beaming politicians from the "Fresh Air" and "Morning of Hope" parties will not lure Hamid, a battle-scarred silversmith, to the ballot box in Iran's election on Friday.
Once he knows you want to talk politics, the master craftsman lays down the intricate chain necklace he is repairing and eases closed the door of his shop.
"Reformist or conservative - it is all the same. Those who prop up the pillars of the current regime will win the seats," the 40-year old man said, glancing out into a wintry boulevard in Isfahan, Iran's former capital.
The ardent devotee of the 1979 Islamic revolution, who was carried disfigured and choking from an Iraqi gas attack in the 1980-88 war, said he had lost faith in this generation of politicians.
"President Mohammad Khatami was just hot air. What has he done for anyone?" he said, dismissing the smiling, moderate cleric who has sought to reform Iran over the last seven years.
Few others questioned at random said they would vote, ignoring election posters - often from little-known parties - fluttering from the leafless, skeletal branches of most trees in the city, a tourist mecca famed for the exquisite blue-glaze tilework of its mosques.
Some said the mass disqualification of reformist candidates by the Guardian Council, a 12-man watchdog, would keep them away from the polls. The hardline body has banned more than 2,500 of the 8,200 aspiring candidates.
"There is no way I could vote," said musical instrument seller Khosro (54). "These are not elections, they are appointments."
Outgoing Isfahan parliamentarian Rajabali Mazroui, barred from seeking re-election, said the bans made it likely all five of Isfahan's parliamentary seats would switch to conservatives from reformists.
"The bans have made three of the seats plain uncontestable.A qualified candidate has pulled out from the fourth," he said.
Isfahanis had few fears that conservative deputies would clamp down on newly-won social freedoms such as more relaxed women's dress codes and easier mingling of the sexes in public.
"Low voter turnout has already given town councils to the conservatives. If they have not cracked down, why should parliamentarians?" said a hotel manager.
Ten earnest, black-bearded young men down in a local religious school will all be voting on Friday.
"We are hopeful that (a new parliament) will get back to the true principles of Islam," said their master, white-bearded Mohammad Farsani, sitting cross-legged upon a carpet, surrounded by Arabic texts and offering tea from a samovar to his guests. "We are not fundamentalists like the Taliban, we just want the real values of Islam represented."
In the poorer quarters, it was not party allegiance drawing voters to conservative candidates such as former deputy Hassan Kamran but pressing needs.
"I will vote for Dr Kamran because he is a local man," said out-of-work Ali (30), queuing at a cinema beside his wife. "He can make a difference with things like vocational schools and water supplies. None of the politicians can deliver on the big issues so let's stick to the little ones."