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Iranians go to the
polls in municipal elections -
TEHRAN - Iranians began going
to the polls on Friday to elect new town and city councils in a test of
the waning popularity of reformists close to President Mohammad Khatami.
With 210,000 candidates
vying for seats on 905 cities and 34,205 villages after a low-key
campaign, voters could boycott the ballot-boxes in frustration at
political infighting. Only
1,222 clerics are among the candidates, compared with some 6,500 women, as
conservatives have kept a low profile, while hoping to capitalise on a
poor turnout. Despite
massive victories in presidential, parliamentary and local elections since
1997, the reformists’ attempts to push through political, social and
economic changes have been systematically blocked by conservatives who
still hold most of the levers of power. In
Tehran, where the reformist-dominated city council collapsed as factional
feuding prevented it from functioning, the splits are still evident in the
three separate pro-reform lists running. The
big winners in this case could be the banned but tolerated liberal
opposition Iran Freedom Movement. Voting
began at 9:00 a.m. (0530 GMT) and is to end at 5:00 p.m., but the interior
ministry could decide to keep polling stations open for a further two
hours. Full
results are not expected for several months.
Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.
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