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TEHRAN – The election campaign in Iran was short and unexciting. It was usually an opportunity to enjoy a little more freedom than usual: going to rallies with friends, singing and dancing. Politics as a party. THEInstead, due to Covid, everything is practically concentrated in three TV comparisons. Yesterday, the last sprint with the polls open, however, was hectic. Of the seven candidates admitted (out of the 600 who had tried), three withdrew. Two from the conservative camp and one from the moderate camp. The move should favor former Central Bank governor Abdolnasser Hammati, the only one to have courted the reformist electorate. Among the historical leaders of the camp, however, only the former president Khatami asked to support the technocrat and in fact he appeared on time at the seat housed in the house that once belonged to Imam Khomeini. The conservative camp thus feels victory within reach. Judge-mullah Ibrahim Raisi is supported by the Supreme Leader and by all the other institutions of the Republic: from the Guardian Council to the Pasdaran. For their part, the pressure was very strong yesterday to make the election of Raisi a round victory. On all Iranian telephone sims, dozens of messages have rained inviting to vote. Some formal, others, allusive, recalled that «it happens to anyone to ask for a public employment“. At 4 pm yesterday the announcement: due to the long queues the closing time of the polling stations is postponed to midnight. The sun was beating down violently and the few really queuing outside the mosque-seats were pressed against the wall in search of a drop of shadow. At 7 pm the participation was given by the state agency Fars at 37%, but with another 5 hours (fresh) of open seats it is easy for the figure to increase a lot. The comparison can be 73% of the last presidential elections (difficult) or 42% of the last MPs (practically already passed). Polls envisioned Raisi’s landslide victory with a participation between 46 and 60%.
Staying at the top of the range would be a legitimizing success for the new president. Immediately after placing the ballot in the ballot box, one of the conservative candidates who retired at the last, Alireza Zakani, stops to speak with the Courier service. “Retiring was the most useful thing I could do for the homeland right now. We all conservatives have one goal: to free Iran from the arrogance of foreign enemies and powerful domestic ones. We hope that Raisi wins already in the first round and it does not matter if there will be a turnout of 50%, in the West there are even lower stakes. Voters know that our problems are not only due to America’s crimes, but also to the inefficiency of the current government. The people want to change ».
The results are announced for today. If Raisi fails to reach an absolute majority he should go to the ballot and then apathy and indifference could vanish.
June 18, 2021 (change June 18, 2021 | 21:57)
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