IRAN: Iran's conservative leaders yesterday predicted voters would defy a boycott and lend legitimacy to an election that reformists have dismissed as a sham. Caitriona Palmer reports from Tehran
With most reformist candidates banned from the electoral list, and hundreds of others boycotting the election, the result was already assured for the conservatives by the time polling stations opened yesterday morning.
By early evening, the conservative-controlled state television was reporting a "massive turnout" in the capital Tehran and other provinces, though it provided no figures to back up the claim. Throughout the day, repeat footage showed queues of voters outside polling stations while presenters reminded viewers of their religious and patriotic duty to vote.
Turnout in the capital looked thin and nothing compared to the last parliamentary polls held four years ago, when some two-thirds of eligible voters came out to vote. The conservatives were counting on a higher turnout in the provinces where constituents are focused on local politics.
The reformists, who called on Iranians to stay away from the polls, hoped that low turnout would present them with a moral victory and taint the next parliament.
One of the first to vote yesterday was Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He warned that the country's "enemies" were trying to prevent young people from voting.
"You see how those who are against the Iranian nation and the revolution are trying so hard to prevent people from going to the polls," he told state television, in a reference to the reformists.
At the Fatime Zahra polling station in Tehran , an unenthusiastic university student admitted that he was only voting in order to receive a stamp on his identity card.
"I came here to vote but I didn't write down any names. I have made a blank vote," said Hooman (23), as he held out an empty blue and white ballot.
"I am emigrating to America and I need the stamp in my identity card I also haven't yet passed my military service. I'm just being cautious."
Another student, 20-year-old Sanah, was also voting to get the all-important stamp.
"I want to pass my state exams and I heard that I need a stamp on my identity card," she said. "I didn't know any of the candidates so I just picked three of the coolest names on the ballot."
As electoral officials handed out delicate pastries to visiting journalists, security agents huddled in close to listen to interviews with voters.
"I am here today for the Islamic revolution - in order to keep it alive," said secondary school teacher Ms Paridek Safari.
Meanwhile, across town, one of Iran's leading conservatives was whipping up the faithful with a fiery election speech.
"Iranians are united against the enemy," said Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council. "To slap the Americans' face we will vote."
His words resonated with Ali (35), caretaker of a building in north Tehran.
"I decided to vote to show the American and European governments that Iranians support the Islamic republic."