Friday, March 14, 2008

Iranians vote in general election


"Voting has been taking place in Iran, with conservatives expected to win after opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running.
The authorities in Tehran have called for a big turnout in the parliamentary polls, to defy the US and other countries they say are Iran's enemies.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne says a lack of choice, due to widespread disqualifications of reformist candidates, could discourage people from voting.
With the field narrowed, he says, the only question is how seats will be shared out between competing conservatives.
The reformists seem to have given up the fight after many of their candidates were disqualified on the grounds of alleged lack of loyalty to Islamic values, says our correspondent.
They made up the bulk of around 1,700 candidates barred from running by Iran's Guardian Council - an unelected body of clerics and jurists that vets election candidates."
Though the parliamentary elections are expecting a large voter turn-out, voters will be discouraged by so few candidate choices. The conservative victory will only have one problem: how to share the seats in parliament.
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