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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Iranians went to the polls in the country’s first general elections since the U.S. imposed sanctions following the pullout from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Polling stations across the country opened at 8:00 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Friday in the 11th parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections and Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei was among the first to cast his ballot.

Speaking after casting his vote, the Leader said, “These elections mark a day of national celebration and I have to congratulate all my fellow countrymen across the country on this occasion.”

“Secondly, the day of elections is the day of the fulfillment of the civil rights of the people which seek to vote and participate in determining the future of the country, as they are entitled to,” the Leader added.

“Thirdly, it is a religious obligation and the truth is that it is elections which guarantee the national interests of the country and anyone who is interested in the national interests of the country should vote,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Leader urged voters to turn out early in the day and to vote based on the number of total competing candidates in any given city.

Ayatollah Khamenei concluded his remarks by praying for the country and also thanking the media for covering the event.

Images shared on social media also showed long lines of people standing in front of polling stations waiting to cast their votes early in the morning.

Speaking after voting, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he “hoped that the best make it to the 11th parliament”.

“What the people demand is a more active parliament which can better focus on resolving the problems which affect their lives,” Rouhani added.

The Iranian president said since Iran’s first parliamentary elections following the Islamic Revolution on March 1980, elections have been held regularly in the country despite times of hardship such as the 1980-88 Iraq war against Iran.

Rouhani added that the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini “always stressed the need for the elections to be held as scheduled.”

He also said Iran’s parliamentary elections have been held without any interruption of any sort in the last ten years, marking “a unique reality in the history of democracy and of Iran”.

Judiciary Chief Hojjatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi and Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani also yesterday cast their votes in Tehran and Qom.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “the people are the main backers of the Islamic Revolution,” adding Iran’s diplomacy is also dependent on the support of its people.

Zarif added that Iranians will not allow “someone sitting in Washington to decide for them, specifically someone who has the blood of General Soleimani on his hands”.

The region’s most popular anti-terror military figure, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, was assassinated in early January by Washington while on an official visit to Iraq.

On Friday, Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei slammed the sanctions as “sham and illegitimate” measures demonstrating the United States’ disregard for democracy.

He added that the U.S. in fact “desired the region’s dictatorial governments as child-killing regimes, seeing them as cows that can be milked for benefit”.

Speaking on Friday, Secretary of Iran’s Guardian Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati mockingly quipped at the sanctions, saying that they demonstrated the “mind paralysis” of those which have imposed them on the Guardian Council members.

“Yes, they sanctioned us and I am now thinking what to do with all the money we have left in the US. We also can’t go to the US for Christmas celebrations any longer,” Ayatollah Jannati told reporters, who laughed in response.

e than 7,000 candidates are competing to enter the parliament. A winning candidate must have at least 20 percent of the votes cast in their constituency in order to become lawmaker for a four-year term.

A total of 57,918,000 people are eligible to cast their ballots. There would be one lawmaker at Majlis per each 190,000-strong segment of the Iranian population.

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“A sum of 57,918,000 Iranians are entitled to vote in the upcoming elections, a little more than 29 million voters are men and 28,800,000 are women,” the deputy of Iran Interior Ministry stated.

He further said 2,900,000 of this figure are potential first-time voters.

The eligible age in Iran to vote has been 18 since January 2007.

The parliamentary elections, the 11th of its kind since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, will be held in over 200 constituencies across the country’s 31 provinces.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, said on Tuesday that if more people vote in the elections the next parliament will be “stronger”.

“The more people attend ballot boxes, Majlis will be stronger,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with a large number of people from East Azarbaijan province to mark the anniversary of Tabrizers’ uprising against the Pahlavi regime on February 18, 1978.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Iran has set the bedrock for democracy and elections in the West Asia region.

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The parliamentary candidates will be screened for their qualifications by Iran’s vetting body, the Guardian Council, after filing their certificates of candidacy.

The 11th round of the Parliamentary elections will be held on February 21st in over 200 constituencies across the country.

The Iranian parliament has 290 members, all of whom are elected by the people for four-year terms. Ali Larijani, a three-time speaker, has announced that he will not run for the parliament.

February 21, 20-20 will also feature an interim election for Iran’s Assembly of Experts, whose members are directly elected to office by the people for an eight-year term.

The assembly elects and oversees the activities of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and is in a position of authority to either appoint or dismiss the Leader.

This is the thirtieth elections in Iran since the 19-79 Islamic revolution. They were all held without delays. If elected, the lawmakers’ biggest challenge would be to create jobs for the country’s burgeoning youth population.

The seventh and last day of registration for candidates to attend the next Iranian parliament in Tehran was held on Saturday.

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He also ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition between reformists and other factions for the elections, saying, “Our experience says that it is useless. In the elections of 1394 (2016) we put some people in our list but later regretted.”

Parliamentary elections will be held on Feb. 21, 2020.

The midterm elections of the Assembly of Experts will also be held on the same date in Tehran, Khorsan Razavi, North Khorasan, Fars and Qom provinces.

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