Special Edition HRDI Bulletin- 2 March 14, 2008 Another Sham Election in Iran Dissident says Iran regime will rig voting Washington Times – March 13, 2008: Mrs. Rajavi spoke by telephone from Paris with the Washington Times yesterday. She said, “Through the Ministry of the Interior, the Revolutionary Guard Corps and provincial officials, it has already been determined who can run and who can win. The regime is even using the ID cards of deceased people as one way to claim a falsely high turnout. The regime is constantly facing internal defections and dissension at all levels. For example, [former top nuclear negotiator] Ali Larijani, who has clashed with the president, was not allowed to run for a seat in Tehran and had to campaign for a seat in Qom. The outcome of the election will be a win for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, but it will be a more fragile, extremist regime. The international community has to recognize that this election has no legitimacy whatsoever. The only real long-term hope is democratic change in Iran led by the people and by the resistance to end the Nationwide election boycott in Iran Sources from Inside Iran – March 14, 2008 11:00 a.m: Revolutionary Guard Esmail Ahmadi Moqdam, commander of the State Security Forces (SSF) said, "175,000 forces from different bodies are in charge of security during the election process. Reserved forces are allocated to places where there are chances of clashes or accumulation of crowd to increase security." (IRNA, March 14) However, the actual number of the suppressive forces assigned to control the polling stations is much higher than what Ahmadi Moqadam just announced. Sources from Inside Iran – March 14, 2008 12:00 a.m: Polling stations as of 12:00 noon in various parts of the country are widely boycotted. In many places in Tehran including Masjed Ansar AlHossein in Tehranpars, Qasr T-junction, Abbass-Abad, Yaft Abad and most of northern Tehran suburbs are quiet and Motahari, Qods and Aeronautics schools have been used as polling stations. The number of voters in all these locations has not exceeded single digit number. In Tehran's Azadi Square, Rezaii Square, Haft Hoz Square, Parastar Street and Tehran (Noe district) and Karaj, Malayer, Boomehen (Pardis District), Qazvin, Hamedan and Shahreza hardly witnessed any voters. "Some 680 out of 4,000 registered candidates" have shunned away, according to the state-run news agency Fars on Friday. Sources from Inside Iran – March 14, 2008 13:00: Report from polling stations in Tehran and various cities indicate a nationwide and immense election boycott by the Iranian public. Number of voters has not exceeded one or two at many polling stations in Tehran such as Emam Mohammed Ghazali’s school mosque, Ghasr Junction, Abbas-Abbad, Yaft-Abad, and North Tehran. In western city of Ardabil, people have left the city to stay away from having to vote. Since morning the mullah’s regime is trying to exert pressure at the polling stations pushing to have its intended candidates elected. In the western city of Sanandaj about two hundred cars were stationed printing identification cards. One of the candidates was encouraging students to vote for him
Human Rights & Democracy International, Pedia http://www.hrdip.com * email: hrdip@hrdip.com * Tel: (305) 909-6547
HRDI, Pedia is your information gateway about human rights and democracy issues worldwide. Our Mission is to provide information, news and research on human rights, women’s rights, children's rights and democracy worldwide.
promising good grades at the school and mobile phones. He has also printed a Quran with his own picture on the back and distributing food. Despite all this, nobody seems to be voting in Sanandaj. In Dashtestan, from 8 AM, about 30 mini-buses have been observed relocating voters from other cities in the province. Nationwide boycott of Election Continue Sources from Inside Iran – March 14, 2008 3:00 pm: At the polling stations, security forces outnumber voters by many times by four times. In Tehran and other cities, there is a sluggish voter turnout at regime’s election charade today. Mullahs; regime admits election boycott and sluggish turnout at the polls Sources from Inside Iran– March 14, 2008 5:00 pm: Reports by the civil correspondent network from twenty five thousand polling stations in the country until 5PM today, indicate an unprecedented sluggish turnout at the polls and that the charade has come under a vast public boycott. It is notable that there are 45,075 polling stations across Iran. In some districts, the voter turnout is many times lower than past similar elections. At most polling stations, the number of security forces and regime agents are much more than the participating voters and the voters are comprised of mostly members of the security forces and their families. The extent of the boycott is so immense that even the regime’s news reporters are admitting to the fact. A TV reporter from Zahedan, referring to complains of the regime mullahs at the Friday sermon said, “Turnout was low and it wasn’t appropriate to say that people didn’t participate. But overall the turnout was unsatisfactory.” This reporter added, “In the suburbs and remote areas the situation is better comparing to the city; places like Karim-Abad and Shir-Abad, etc. But at the city center, in some of the mosques, no one has showed up.” TV reporter from the province of Fars described the polls similarly and said, “It was quiet this morning. When we went to branch 7-8 to prepare a report, the most crowded one that had some people there was the ShahCheragh shrine. The next after was the Seid Alaedin Hossein Astane. There were no lines at other polling stations. The elections in Shiraz will possibly go into second round.” Deciding the outcome of the elections in advance Sources from Inside Iran - March 14, 2008 6:00 pm: Only a very small percentage of eligible voters turned out to vote today to the hour. This is despite of enormous suppressive pressures by the regime on the nation. In Khuzistan Province alone, southern Iran, 41 candidates withdrew from the race as its fate was decided in advance. Despite a large gathering by the residents of the northern city of Babolsar, they vehemently refused to take part in the elections. Local residents complained about daily needs such as gas, coupons, and other necessities which they blamed on the regime's leaders. Distributing and posting flyers Hambastegimeli.com - March 13, 2008: Supporters of the PMOI distributed and posted flyers calling for national wide boycott of the sham elections. Video of Boycott flyers for the Elections - March 2008 Youtube.com - March 14, 2008: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ruvn-9IAVaA&feature=related Youtube.com - March 14, 2008: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fR5ws8pAwkE Report of polling stations in today's election Youtube.com - March 14, 2008: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l8WJQHRz-_k Youtube.com – March 14, 2008: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BRKkbgNCkww Youtube.com – March 14, 2008: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oATupg3kKZI&feature=related