Over 400 Women Elected to Local Councils in Sistan and Baluchestan Province

Results from the Islamic city and village council elections in various regions of Iran indicate that in Sistan and Baluchestan province alone, more than 400 women have been elected to councils. According to the state news agency IRNA, Ali Osta Hashemi, the governor of Sistan and Baluchestan, announced that in the fifth round of the Islamic city and village council elections, 415 women successfully entered the councils. This number of women's victories in the elections of Sistan and Baluchestan province is more than double the number reported in the previous term for women's entry into councils in this province. According to the governor's announcement, in the fourth term of councils, 185 women were members of the city and village councils in this province. Mr. Hashemi did not mention the total number of members of the city and village councils in Sistan and Baluchestan province, nor is it clear how many women have joined city and village councils across the country. At the same time, Mr. Hashemi referred to the case of Khash County, where 131 women succeeded in entering the city and village councils in the elections of this county. According to previously announced statistics, in the past two years, 14 women were elected as village heads in various areas of Khash County, and while the number of female candidates in the fourth round of council elections in this area was only 33, this number increased to 341 women in the recent elections. Additionally, in the village of Afzalabad in Khash, which has had a female village head for the past six years, all 10 candidates in the fifth round of village council elections were women. Khash County, with a population of 173,000, is located 185 kilometers south of Zahedan. Reformists also took the city council in Isfahan and Mashhad. Meanwhile, the final statistics of the council elections in Tehran confirmed the election of all members of the Hope List, supported by reformists, to the council, and reports from Mashhad and Isfahan also indicated the victory of candidates from this list in these two cities. In both Isfahan and Mashhad, where their city councils have 15 members, candidates from the Hope List, supported by reformists, were elected to the councils, which is significant because the city councils in these two cities have been under the control of conservatives for several past terms. In Yazd city, the election results also indicate that Spenta Niknam, a Zoroastrian citizen and member of the fourth Yazd council, succeeded in entering the fifth term of the city council. This is while Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Guardian Council, had requested the disqualification of religious minority candidates in cities with a Shia majority during the qualification review of candidates in a directive. This directive faced resistance from executive and supervisory bodies. In this context, the Tehran governor announced that 21 members of the Hope List entered the Tehran city council. City councils: a table of corruption or a city parliament? Ethnicities and elections. A small but noticeable change; borders in Iranian elections are being 'broken'.