Parliamentary elections in Iran: under consideration

The 9th Majlis (parliamentary) elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have officially started inIran, presstv.ir writes. Over 48 million people is supposed to vote.

The election hasbegun inTehran, Iranian capital. Here more than five million people are eligible to cast their ballots. The election started at 08:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday, and will continue until 06:00 p.m. (14:30 GMT). 

Majlis candidates launched the weeklong campaign on February 23 by introducing their plans to the public. The elections campaign drew to a close on Thursday.  

Iran‘s Guardian Council, charged with supervising the elections, approved the competence of 3,454 candidates. 

On February 21,Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said that 48,288,799 people are eligible to cast their ballots in the Majlis vote. 

Some 3.9 million people will cast their votes for the first time. 

About 1,300 local and 350 foreign reporters working for 174 international media outlets are providing coverage for the elections. 

According toIran’s Interior Ministry, the election process will be managed by some 850,000 observers in 47,000 polling stations and 1,000 constituencies across the country.  

Iranian elections are under world media consideration. Western media presents Iranian President M. Ahmadinejad and religious leaderSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneiunder the negative light as much as it is possible.

Guardian writes: “In the absence of major reformist parties, which were kicked off the political stage over the 2009 post-election riots, Friday’s vote is seen as a political battleground for competing conservative factions that support the country’s 

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and those backing Ahmadinejad.

The two top conservative groups, which were once united, have turned against each other after crushing reformists in the upheavals that followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

The vote is also a curtain raiser for next year’s presidential election. A defeat for Ahmadinejad supporters would virtually guarantee a Khamenei loyalist as the next president and present a seamless front against Western efforts to curbIran‘s uranium enrichment program.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters inIran, urged the nation to vote in large numbers to disappointIran‘s enemies.”

Iranian elections are very important for the West as Iran itself is important for the West. It has great role in the Middle Eastand is a big provider of oil.

“Iran’s parliament carries more powers than most elected bodies in the Middle East, including setting budgets and having influential advisory committees such as national security and foreign affairs”, Guardian concludes.