Conservative and hardline factions, including candidates closely aligned with the Revolutionary Guards, won a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections held on February 21. They won 221 of the 290 seats, more than doubling their presence in parliament; 83 were elected in the 2016 poll, according to Icana, the parliament’s news outlet. Also known as “principlists,” they are committed to rigid interpretations of revolutionary principles. In a major setback for allies of President Hassan Rouhani, only 19 reformists or centrists won seats. In the 2016 election, reformists and centrists won 121 seats, six times larger than in 2020. Independents won 38 seats, twice as many as reformists. Iran has 82 national political parties and 34 provincial parties.
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2020-02-24
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2020-02-23
According to the figures, the total turnout across the country has been about 42 percent, while the number for Tehran province is about 25 percent. Based on recent polls prior to the elections, carried out both before and after major events such as fuel price hike and assassination of General Soleimani or downing of the Ukrainian flight, the turnout in Tehran constituency was expected to be about 38 percent. The polls showed that due to economic difficulties and low profile of the government and parliament, people are less interested in voting. The surveys also showed that the reformist voters will usually rise when the turnout passes 45 percent, the point form which, most of the voters would go for reformist camp. Besides this major reason behind loss of reformists, there are other external factors as well. There was a campaign promoted by dissident journalists funded by the US State Department trying to discourage Iranians from voting as a form of civil protest against the Islamic Republic. Well, bad news for the reformists is that they supporters are more likely to follow such campaigns promoted by outsiders! And this adds to less turnout on their supportive community.
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2020-02-21
Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has turned up the heat on Tehran. Way up. As part of a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at curbing the malign international activities of Iran’s ruling regime, the White House has dramatically intensified sanctions, blacklisted the country’s clerical army, and put foreign buyers of Iranian crude on notice that they need to pull out of the Iranian market or face potentially catastrophic consequences.
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2020-02-21
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body that sets standards to combat money laundering and terrorist finance, has placed Iran back on its infamous “blacklist,” following the failure of Iranian policymakers to enact two key bills in accordance with an action plan set in 2016. The FATF statement, issued on Friday at the conclusion of the body’s latest plenary meeting, calls on members to “to apply effective countermeasures” following Iran’s failure to implement “the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with the FATF Standards.”
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2020-02-20
With the campaign season ending Thursday morning, the countdown to the 11th vote for the Islamic Consultative Assembly has begun. For over a week, candidates were trying hard to appeal to nearly 58 million Iranians who are eligible to cast votes in the country of 83 million.
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2020-02-19
Recent remarks by the Iranian and Saudi officials on the dialogue between the two countries highlights significant points regarding the prospects for bilateral relations between Tehran and Riyadh. […] US, Zionist regime, UAE and Turkey will not approve better relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and do whatever they can to stop it. Ultimately, if Saudi Arabia seeks to strengthen its regional position and reduce tensions in the Middle East to safeguard its economic and political interests, there is no other way except working with regional countries, especially Iran.
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2020-02-18
Three days before Iran’s parliamentary elections, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed his call on the nation for a show of support to the clerical establishment. Khamenei told Iranians again in a Feb. 18 speech in Tehran that voting was not just a national responsibility but a religious duty as well.
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2020-02-16
The United Nations Women, a UN entity for gender equality and women's empowerment, have honored seven women scientists, including Iran’s Maryam Mirzakhani, who have made significant contributions to the field of science, highlighting their world-altering and trailblazing careers.
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2020-02-13
Campaigning for Iran’s parliament election has officially begun and will last only one week.
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2020-02-11
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani, in a phone conversation on Monday, briefed his Ukrainian counterpart Alexei Danilov over the ongoing investigations into the passenger plan that was mistakenly downed by Iran’s air defense on January 8. [...] He invited his Ukrainian counterpart to visit Tehran for the joint investigations regarding the incident by the national security agencies of the two countries. “Achieving a mutual technical assessment can yield the final result on this case in a professional and non-political environment.”