Iran – election – statement no. 4 – Reports from Tehran indicate that the vast majority of the polling stations across the capital were empty.
No one has gone to vote in Abolfazl mosque in and Mottahari Labor and Knowledge Training College on Seraj Street, as well as in Imam Reza training center on Zamani Street
Pro- Rafsanjani operatives in Nahavand were paying 30,000 rials to each voter.
In Minab, only government agents were present at four polling stations visited by Resistance’s observers. Not even one person had gone to vote.
In Yazd, a few voters were seen voting. “We oppose the regime and boycott the first round. We will do the same this time as well,” residents said.
CNN and BBC correspondents in Tehran also spoke of light turn out, noting that the people were frustrated with the political establishment and that the turn out was less than last week.
Mullahs’ President Mohammad Khatami said election results would not change anything and that the regime would continue its policies. Speaking to the state-run Jam-e Jam television correspondent, Khatami said, “Policies of the Islamic Republic with respect to economy, industry, diplomacy and security are being formulated at the macro level by the highest echelons of the state, namely the Leader [Khamenei]. They are carried out in the framework of programs and I do not believe there would be fundamental and major changes in policy.”
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 24, 2005
