Iranians divided over polls participation

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami talks with journalists after voting at the Interior Ministry in Tehran yesterday. Polling stations across Iran opened for parliamentary elections expected to see religious conservatives tighten their grip over the Islamic republic after most reformist candidates were barred from standing.. PHOTO: AFP

With most reformist candidates disqualified and conservatives expected to roll to a landslide sweep, the only real suspense in the polls was who and how many of the 46.3 million eligible voters would turn out.

Little electoral enthusiasm was visible at the Tochal telecabin and ski station in the mountains north of the Tehran, where hundreds of Iranians sat out the elections basking in mild sunshine.

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Some hiked in the Alborz mountains and others picnicked. Many "voted" with their skis or snowboards while a few looked over an exhibition titled, no political pun intended, "the Return of the Dinosaurs".

"Ninety-five percent of young people won't vote today," predicted Amir A'Rabi, a 20-year-old real estate worker with a snowboard flung jauntily over his shoulder. "They don't believe in any of the candidates."

Mehdi, a student, set out on a trek in the mountains with his girlfriend Sara. Both voted during the reformist landslide in 2000, when two-thirds of eligible Iranians cast ballots, but stayed on the sidelines this time.

"People are disillusioned and the regime should attract their attention," said Mehdi, 22, who would only give his first name. "They should give back to the people the trust they took away."

Ali Reza'ee, a 45-year-old clockmaker, said he would not vote and the outcome of the elections was virtually decided in advance. He was on his way home from the mountains for the traditional Friday meal of chelo kebab.

But his wife Mahnaz Arzani, 40, surprised him by saying she planned to cast her ballot. She had no problem contradicting her somewhat startled husband: "He has his opinion and I have my opinion."

Tucked away amid the jovial weekend crowd at Tochal was a sombre prayer room used as a polling station, where five people were seen filling out ballot forms.

The head of the polling operations there, Asadollah Mohebi, said 60 people had voted in the first 90 minutes. "It is less than four years ago, you can see that," he said.

Iran's clerical regime pressed hard for a large turnout and state-run television rallied voters with patriotic songs and footage of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the 1980-88 war with Iraq.