Iran Media Barrage: Turnout Overwhelms 'traitors,' Shunning Disputed Elections
Feb.20, 2004
By Brian Murphy
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - In a blitz of patriotic broadcasts and dissident messages, Islamic hard-liners and reformers dueled Friday during parliamentary elections that point to a conservative sweep but raise a bigger question: Did the reformist boycott succeed or crumble?
What is revealed from the mountain of paper ballots - possibly Saturday - may determine the credibility of the reform movement and its drive to make the all-powerful Iranian theocracy more accountable to elected officials and the public.
Reformers, outraged by the banning of more than 2,400 candidates, hoped for a widespread snub of the voting to humble the leadership just a week after the 25th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Blocked from the mainstream media, liberals fired off pro-boycott e-mails and mobile phone messages to millions of people.
"Don't take part in the funeral of freedom," said one text message.
But the conservative establishment fought back hard.
It pulled out all the stops - led by nonstop appeals and programs on state television and radio - and claimed a big turnout buried the boycott effort. A significant turnout would give the clerics' little reason to make democratic concessions.
"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," said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The candidate ban by a Khamenei-appointed panel left fewer than 250 veteran reformers among nearly 4,500 candidates and provoked one of Iran's most serious political crises in decades.
It means the 290-seat parliament will likely return to the control of lawmakers loyal to - or at least tolerant of - the unelected clerics who say their rule is divinely inspired.
The immediate significance would be an end to the ideological clashes that have paralyzed the legislature since the reformists won a two-thirds majority in 2000.
Parliament has little power, since all key measures need approval from the appointed conservative clerics. But the new lawmakers could have a free hand to pass budgets that support conservative factions and outlets, such as state broadcasting.
A victory for conservatives also would consolidate hard-line control at a sensitive time. In Iraq, Shiite Muslims are pressing for early elections and look to predominantly Shiite Iran for backing. Washington and its allies, meanwhile, are questioning Iran's denials about seeking nuclear arms technology.
"It's religious fascism," said Hamidreza Jalaeipour, a columnist for Yas-e-nou - one of two reform newspapers banned this week.
The conservatives were just as blunt about boycott backers.
"They are traitors to Islam and the country," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshippers at Tehran University. Jannati leads the Guardian Council, which banned the pro-reform candidates.
The former champion of the reformers - President Mohammad Khatami - was stoned-faced as he cast his ballot and conceded: "Whatever the result of the elections, we must accept it."
Reformers have indicated they could claim success by trimming national turnout to about 40 percent and lower in urban strongholds such as the capital, Tehran. Parliament elections in 2000 attracted 67 percent of voters nationwide and nearly 47 percent in Tehran province.
But assessing turnout was complicated by the sheer number of polling stations. Nearly 40,000 ballot sites were set up around the country in mosques, schools and even cemeteries.
Over 46 million people ages 15 and over were eligible to vote. No voting was planned in Bam in southeastern Iran, which was devastated by an earthquake Dec. 26.
A sampling of voting stations around Tehran suggested a mixed result.
At one mosque in an upscale neighborhood, just four voters came during a half hour in late afternoon. At the same time, more than 30 people voted in more conservative south Tehran.
At both places, local journalists said the turnout appeared lighter than for presidential elections in 2001, when two-thirds of the voters cast ballots.
In a working-class Tehran suburb, buses brought voters to the polls.
In the eastern city of Mashhad, a bastion of conservative Islam, no large crowds were seen around voting stations, but the turnout appeared moderate. In Tabriz, in the northwest, residents reported the voting was significant in some neighborhoods but light in others.
In Shabzever, a city near Mashhad, some voters arrived after polling times were extended by four hours. One elderly merchant said he was swayed by clerics on state TV.
"I didn't want to be a non-Muslim, so I went to the polling station," Hassan Rivandi said.
There were hints of some possible abuses. Police found 51 national ID cards on a man stopped at a roadblock in Doroud, about 240 miles southwest of Tehran, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
At least 150,000 police officers were assigned to patrols and to watch polling stations, IRNA said. There were no reports of violence.
State media quickly gave a glowing assessment of the turnout.
A barrage of reports described many polling stations as mobbed or running out of ballots. IRNA said one couple went straight from their wedding ceremony to vote.
Influential clerics berated fence-sitters.
"Anyone who fails in the slightest way to fulfill this duty will be answerable (to God) in this life and the next," said Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, head of the Experts Assembly, which advises Khamenei.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi singled out youths - the core of the reformers' support. Nearly half of Iran's 65 million people are under 25.
"Young people should know that (the future of) Islam is in their hands," he said.
One after another, voters were interviewed on television saying they want to rebuff "the enemy" - which means the United States to most conservatives. "We can gouge out the eyes of the enemy," one man told state TV.
For the first time, state TV carried a news scroll in English, saying how crowded it was at polling stations, apparently to reach out foreign journalists covering the elections. Another new move was separate voting areas for women - a gesture to the most conservative segments of society.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGADJOAOWQD.htmlThe executive office for election announced that they have already started to count the votes.
The results will be publicized tomorrow evening local time.