Chaman: Ten Percent of Votes in Tehran City Council Elections to be Recounted

Mehdi Chaman, the head of the Supreme Council of Provinces, announced the recount of ten percent of the votes from the fifth round of the Islamic City Council elections in Tehran. The website Nameh News reported on Thursday, June 4, that Mr. Chaman made this statement during the fortieth meeting of the Supreme Council of Provinces. According to him, 200 complaints from 'candidates of the Independent Service List and even reformists' regarding violations in the recent Tehran City Council elections have been sent to the governor's office, and 'based on the arrangements made, it was decided that ten percent of the votes from the ballot boxes in Tehran would be recounted.' The day before, Alireza Rahimi, the head of the supervisory board for the city and village council elections in Tehran Province, stated that at the request of Mehdi Chaman and based on his complaint, for the first time, 'ten to fifteen ballot boxes from the Tehran council elections will be recounted in Parliament.' Mr. Rahimi had previously mentioned that at the request of Ali Larijani, the Speaker of Parliament, the central supervisory board for the city council elections in Tehran Province had randomly reviewed the votes of the top fifty candidates, especially the votes of Mehdi Chaman. According to Rahimi, however, after multiple reconciliations of the votes, 'no discrepancies were found in the results that had previously been announced and aggregated in the Ministry of Interior's system, and not a single case of discrepancy was found.' On June 2, Mehdi Chaman had complained about the conduct of the council elections in Tehran, stating that 'our complaint is not about whether we are in the council or not, as the council is saturated with our presence, and even the walls of the council have seen us too much.' He criticized that the ballot boxes were taken directly to the Ministry of Interior instead of being opened at the governor's office. Reformists managed to secure all the seats in the city and village council elections held on May 29 under the 'Hope List.' Mehdi Chaman, a prominent figure among conservatives in the Tehran City Council elections, ranked 22nd and will only be able to join the council if one of the main members of the Tehran council resigns. He has been a main member of the Tehran City Council for the past twelve years and has served as its president for all but one year. The Islamic City Council of Tehran, Rey, and Tajrish, which consists of 21 main members, is responsible for electing the mayor of Tehran.