Iranians start voting for new parliament, Assembly of Experts

A high turnout is expected help the reformists.

The supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, warned against enemy plots to infiltrate the elections, calling on the nation to remain vigilant.

The Times article notes that other reformists have rebelled against this emerging campaign strategy on the grounds that it involves nearly complete abdication of actual reformist goals and principles. Some 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the two elections. There are 290 seats in the Iranian parliament up for grabs.

With such a crowded field of competition, few candidates are likely to reach the threshold in the first round.

In addition to a new parliament, voters will also decide the makeup of the country’s Assembly of Experts, a body responsible for appointing and supervising the supreme leader – the religious head of Iran’s theocracy who wields near-total authority.

Candidates across Iran’s political spectrum were disqualified, but reformists were hit particularly hard.

Inflation remains high at around 13 percent according to central bank figures, though it has fallen from around 40 percent in 2013. The official unemployment rate stands at 10 percent and inflation hovers around 15 percent.

“Whoever likes Iran and its dignity, greatness and glory should participate in this election”, he said after casting his ballot in Tehran. Aref is leading is t… The three congressmen are members of the far-right American tea party, and their blustery entitlement is pure propaganda for their far-right Iranian counterparts. He criticized Ahmadinejad for his “self-centered” policies saying: “It is unprecedented and inappropriate that a president simply says I do not accept this law and will not execute it”. Those involved in previous incidents like these have enjoyed relative impunity: a year ago, for example, Ali Motahari, a conservative regime critic who is heading a list in the current elections, was riding in a vehicle that was attacked with sticks, stones, and pepper spray while he was on the way to give a speech; the perpetrators received suspended sentences, and those who had invited Motahari to speak were fined.

Reformists stormed to power with the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami, followed by 2000 parliamentary elections that brought a reformist majority in parliament for the first time. It was, in fact, such a very late surge which took Mr Rouhani to victory in the 2013 presidential elections. During a debate over a ban on women entering sports stadiums in 2014, Alia said “a$3 women’s duty is to raise children and take care of their husbands, not to watch volleyball games… women whose main concern is going to stadiums and finding a job and things like that would not be able to fulfil her duties”.

The biggest political bombshell of the election campaign was a proposal by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani to establish a national leadership council now, instead of choosing a new leader later.

Hardline lawmakers have accused the government of making too many concessions to the West in order to secure the nuclear deal and are hoping voters will hand Rouhani and his allies a stinging rebuke. His blend of politically moderate and socially conservative stances has come to be known as moderate conservatism.

Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, talks to journalists at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, Dec. 18, 2015. Ahmad Jannati wields considerable influence in Iran’s legislative institutions since he simultaneously holds seats in the Guardian Council, the Expediency Discernment Council of the Establshment, and the Assembly of Experts.

This year, reformists have united with moderates within a bloc called the Alliance Of Reformists And Government Supporters in hopes of more effectively challenging their rivals. All candidates must be vetted and approved by the unelected Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog dominated by hard-liners and made up of clerics chosen by the supreme leader and Islamic jurists.