0510 GMT: Deliberate outcome or confusion? Three days after the Parliamentary vote in Iran and there are still as many questions as answers.
The straightforward story-line on Sunday was that 163 of the 290 MPs have been chosen. This, however, gives us little idea of the outcome because Iranian outlets were not giving the affilitiation or any other information about the winning candidates.
One outlet with details, the "hard-line" Raja News, has about 1/3 of the seats being won by "independents". If true, that unsettles the narrative that the election has been dominated by the Unity Front, set up to bring together all conservatives and principlists, and the Islamic Constancy/Resistance Front, which refused to join the effort.
The explanation could be that the "independents" are actually part of the Steadfastness Front, linked to Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaie. Raja News does not list the faction, and another report said that the Front won almost half of the seats that had been declared.
It could be that another political force is behind the "independents" --- in the weeks before the election, a prominent rumour was that the camp of President Ahmadinejad and his advisor Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai would smuggle MPs into the Majlis under that label, thus avoiding scrutiny by the Guardian Council.
Or this could just be a disparate collection of individuals.
The picture in Tehran is no clearer. While the official count is not released until later today, Iranian media put out claimed results last night. One striking note was that only five of the 30 seats were allocated on the first-round ballot, with other candidates, including prominent MPs of all factions, failing to reach the 25% threshold.
But here is another mystery. The reports said that just over 2.2 million ballots had been counted, with just under 2 million valid.
Given that the declared number of registered voters in Tehran for this election is 6.4 million, the turnout --- if these are the final figures --- would be 34.4%. However, in its proclamation of the "slap in the face" to the enemy, Iranian officials, including the Minister of Interior, have said the turnout in the capital was 48%.
Another bureaucratic muddle or the exposure of the propaganda of this vote? We will keep looking for answers.
Posted via email from lissping
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.