1. Authorities continued to tally ballots two days after Friday’s vote for members of parliament and the Assembly of Experts, responsible for selecting Iran’s supreme leader. This election marked the first since protests erupted following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

2. The election, marred by a vetting process that disqualified numerous candidates, occurred against the backdrop of Iran grappling with a severe economic crisis exacerbated by international sanctions.

3. The official IRNA news agency estimated the turnout at approximately “41 per cent” among the 61 million eligible voters. However, no official figure had been announced at the time.

4. The reformist daily Shargh predicted that the next parliament would be in the hands of radical conservatives who “took advantage of the opportunity created by the low participation”.

5. Etemad, a reformist newspaper, indicated that turnout was lower in Iran’s larger cities compared to smaller ones and highlighted a significant number of “blank votes.” Concerns regarding a low turnout had been circulating prior to the elections, particularly after a state TV poll revealed that more than half of the respondents expressed indifference towards the elections, AFP reported.

6. Turnout in the capital Tehran was reported to be approximately 25 percent, as per Iranian media sources. They also stated that ultraconservative candidates managed to secure 12 out of the 30 parliamentary seats allocated to the capital. “Some seats have gone to a second round, which will take place in either April or May,” IRNA reported.

7. The pro-government Iran Daily said authorities should see the low turnout as a “wake-up call and redouble their efforts to fortify their support base”. Reformist daily Ham Mihan said that “the soul of the elections was lost” and that turnout was “far from victorious” which could have “political repercussions” for Iran’s system, AFP reported.

8. As reported by AFP, political analyst Mohammad Mohajeri suggested that conservatives and ultraconservatives would be the primary beneficiaries of the elections due to a “sharp decline in the participation rate”.

9. A record high of 15,200 candidates competed for seats in the 290-member parliament. Additionally, 144 candidates contended for positions in the 88-member Assembly of Experts, an institution exclusively composed of male Islamic scholars.  Iran’s parliament in 2020 was elected amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with a turnout of 42.57 per cent. This marked the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution at that time.

10. Former moderate president Hassan Rouhani cast his ballot on Friday despite his disqualification from running for the Assembly of Experts after 24 years of membership. According to the Reform Front, a coalition of parties, another former president, the reformist Mohammad Khatami, was among those who abstained from voting. In February, Khatami had said on his official website that Iran is “very far from free and competitive elections”.

(With inputs from AFP)