City Representative After Election Defeat: Votes Were Cast Using Individuals' National IDs

A current member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who failed to secure re-election in the parliamentary elections held on Friday, March 2, has reported widespread electoral violations, stating that votes were cast using individuals' national IDs without their knowledge. Somayeh Mahmoudi added, "I am even aware that national ID cards have been sent from my county to neighboring counties to vote in their place." She noted, "Another occurrence was that votes were issued multiple times for individuals." This representative, who did not enter the parliament, also stated that "the elections were accompanied by money distribution" and added that "vote buying ranged from 100,000 to 1.5 million tomans, and gift packs were given to voters." The representative of Shahreza in the 10th and 11th terms told the newspaper Shargh that "a fair election was not held this time, and we did not pass the test." Jala Rashidi-Koochi, a member of the Internal Affairs and Councils Commission of the 11th Parliament, also told Shargh that "vote buying has always existed and is nothing new." Elections in Iran have always been criticized by observers and have never been free from various controversies, including manipulation of results and fraud in the electoral process. However, the recent elections in Iran were accompanied by widespread boycotts from the public and political organizations, resulting in the lowest voter turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic. Some observers have estimated the participation rate in this round of elections to be much lower than the announced figure; for instance, Mohammad Hassan Qadiri Abiane, a principlist diplomat, stated that public participation in the elections was "less than 10 percent." Previously, surveys from two independent institutions abroad - Goman and Estasis - had estimated the participation rate to be below 30 percent. The elections were characterized by the majority of Iranians labeling them as a "show" and an "election circus," and they did not participate. Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, also stated at a press conference on Monday, March 5, in Washington that the low number of participants in the recent elections indicates that many Iranian voters share this assessment, so "it is not surprising that they decided not to participate." Furthermore, the U.S. State Department spokesperson emphasized that "the statistics provided by Iranian officials regarding participation in the elections are generally unreliable." The participation rate of "less than 35 percent" in the Islamic Republic elections led to intra-governmental competition in 15 provinces going to a second round. The election display ended under the shadow of "ambiguity" regarding how votes were collected; controversies arose from the removal of the requirement to use identification. The internal media claimed a participation rate of over 40 percent in the elections. The Iranian Retirees Council stated that with the widespread boycott of the elections, the massive movement of "Women, Life, Freedom" continues.