- By Thomas Mackintosh
- BBC News, London
March 2, 2024, 12:00 GMT
Updated 33 minutes ago
Image source: Getty Images
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Friday's elections were seen as a crucial test of the legitimacy and national support of Iran's leadership – but turnout was expected to be low
Iran has started counting ballots for parliament and key clerical body elections, as unofficial reports suggested Friday's voter turnout was the lowest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The elections were the first since widespread protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022.
She was detained for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women.
More than 61.2 million Iranians were eligible to vote.
Two separate elections took place on Friday: one to elect the next members of parliament and another to elect the Assembly of Experts.
The assembly elects and oversees Iran's most powerful figure and commander-in-chief, the supreme leader, who makes decisions on issues such as social freedoms and economic conditions.
Iran has been hit hard by international sanctions, an economic crisis, widespread hardship and violent unrest.
Despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call for people to cast their votes, many Iranians were divided on whether or not to take part.
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An Iranian woman shows her ink-covered finger after casting her vote at the Ershad Mosque in northern Tehran
Early polls on Friday suggested voter turnout could be at a new record low and is likely to be particularly low in the capital, Tehran.
A state-affiliated pollster predicted a 41% voter turnout for the general election – which, if accurate, will be the lowest voter turnout in the past 12 elections.
Caroline Davies, the first BBC reporter in Tehran since 2019, covers the election
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Watch: BBC's Carrie Davies visits a polling station in Tehran as voting begins
Since the votes are counted manually, counting the Iranian ballot takes some time. Some of the results have been announced. According to the Iranian state news agency IRNA, most expert meetings were counted for large cities.
This assembly is a group of 88 Islamic clerics tasked with selecting the next Supreme Leader in due course – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 84 years old and the new assembly will meet for eight years.
Around 50 of the 290 parliamentary seats so far have been declared by some city councilors. The final results should be clear tomorrow.
No official voter turnout figures were released. Analysts suggested that low voter turnout was a sign of disaffection with politics after many of the country's officials urged voters to go to the polls.
The Supreme Leader, who was the first to cast his vote, said: “Vote as soon as possible, the eyes of Iran's friends and critics are on the results.”