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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran’s parliamentary elections are set to take place on Friday, February 21.
More than 15,000 Iranians applied to run for 290 seats. However, 7,000 mostly reformist applicants were purged by the Guardian Council, controlled by hardliners.
Many expect a record-low election turnout due to growing political repression, a devastating economic crisis worsened by US sanctions, and the government’s handling of a downed Ukrainian jet in January.
A poll from Tehran University found that 75 percent of the city’s residents would not take part in this year’s elections.
Iranian officials are scrambling to get people to the polls. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called voting a “religious duty” and a “national responsibility”.
Prominent human rights campaigners have called for a boycott. Imprisoned activist Nargess Mohammadi urged Iranians not to vote in response to the state security force’s “torture, massacre, and imprisonment” of protesters in November.
The government is yet to officially disclose how many people died in the protests over a hike in the price of petrol, but human rights organizations put the number between 500 and 1,500.
Kurdish opposition groups outside the country have called on Kurds to boycott the election. Iran’s Kurdish minority has historically voted for reformist candidates.
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