Last update: 7:00 pm CET
Despite extensive efforts by Iran’s regime to convince the people to vote in its sham parliamentary elections, the event, held on March 1, was met with widespread boycott by a public that is fed up with tyranny, lack of freedoms, and corruption. According to reports by PMOI activists Iran, voting stations were empty in most locations in both large and small cities across the country.
Empty ballot boxes
This morning, regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei pleaded with the people again to vote in his sham elections. “All eyes are on our country,” Khamenei said.
The Mehdi Ebrahimi high-school in Tehran’s Sepah Street, which has been turned into a voting station, was empty, according to videos sent by reporters for the PMOI website.
In a statement, the regime’s elections organization requested that people who are qualified to vote attend the voting stations, implicitly admitting to the mass boycott. “Qualified people can vote with any of five identification documents, including national ID, national card, driver’s license, and military service documents,” the statement reads.
In Tehran Urmia Street, the Emami elementary school voting station was also empty, according to videos sent by PMOI activists.
In Tehran’s Navvab Street, no Lolagar Mosque was empty as people passed by the voting station and attended their daily work without paying attention to the regime’s elections.
Mohsen Rezaee, a former IRGC commander and a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and the secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, tried to console regime leaders by saying, “The people of Iran will make sacrifices, they will ignore the current shortcomings [of the government] and will vote.”
However, in Tehran’s Narmak district, the Ghods Girls School voting station was empty and it was clear that the people of Iran have casted their vote by boycotting the regime’s elections.
Reports from Zahedan’s Shir Abad district indicate the voting station was empty and the guards were playing with their mobiles as the station is being totally ignored by the people.
Other stations in the city are equally empty. Videos show people returning from Friday prayers and ignoring the voting stations as they head home or to work.
The commander of the State Security Forces in Sistan and Baluchestan province declared that the regime’s security forces are on full alert for potential anti-regime protests.
March 1—Zahedan, southeast #Iran
People are ignoring voting stations and passing by as the regime's parliamentary elections face mass boycott across the country.#boycottIranShamElections pic.twitter.com/rHC7hTAOPo— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
Ahmad Alamalhoda, the Friday prayer leader in Mashhad expressed concern about the boycott of the elections during his sermon and said, “The enemy has banked on the current election and hopes that people will not vote due to existing problems. And they will use this to conclude that the people do not stand with the state anymore.”
Meanwhile, reports from Mashhad show that people continue to ignore the ballot boxes and the voting stations are empty.
March 1—Mashhad, northeast #Iran
Voting station is empty as people are boycotting the regime's sham parliamentary election.#boycottIranShamElections pic.twitter.com/Fl9cR7FTiQ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
Prisoners forced to vote
Reports indicate that Iran’s regime is forcing the families of prisoners to vote by threatening to raise pressure on the prisoners.
In Sanandaj Central Prison, authorities threatened to deny prisoners of their basic needs such as meetings with their families unless they vote in the elections.
In Urmia Central Prison, one prisoner who was scheduled to be released on Thursday was told that he would be released on Saturday, after the elections. At the same time, prisoners are being forced to vote in the election and they will receive extra furlough if they vote for the representative that the head of the prison favors.
In Karaj Central Prison, prisoners are being told to call their families and convince them to vote in the election.
March 1—Tehran, #Iran
Voting station at Sharif University empty at 6:00 pm local time. People continue the mass boycott of the regime's sham elections.#boycottIranShamElections pic.twitter.com/f70lzUOWbb— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
Regime agents admit to election botycott
According to reports from voting stations, by 3:00 pm Tehran time, very few people had cast their votes. Some authorities at voting stations have reported that even at noon and after Friday prayers, very few people have cast their votes and recommended that state media send their reporters in the afternoon when “more people might come.”
According to a report from the regime’s own agents in Tehran’s Baharestan district, voting stations was very empty. Regime authorities have been instructed to keep the number of votes and participants secret to avoid the embarrassment of the mass boycott.
March 1—Tabriz, northwest #Iran
Justice Ministry voting station is empty as people are boycotting the regime's sham parliamentary election.#boycottIranShamElectionspic.twitter.com/PxQ4R5N0RP— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
The regime has rallied IRGC members, Basij members, security forces, and other repressive forces to attend voting stations to create the impression of participation and record propaganda videos for its media outlets.
The extent of the boycott has reached a point that foreign reporters who were granted entrance to Iran are also reporting that people are not participating in the elections. This is while the regime usually only allows foreign reporters to visit voting stations in Tehran, which is more crowded than other places.
On Thursday, the state-run Jahan-e Sanat newspaper reported, “The twelfth parliamentary elections is being held while there is no enthusiasm for the elections in society, especially in large cities. Polls show that half of the people don’t even know what elections are being held.”
March 1—Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Voting station is empty as people are boycotting the regime's sham parliamentary election.#boycottIranShamElections pic.twitter.com/RPYaUvpvaT— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
Forged and forced votes
In addition to accepting all sorts of identification documents, the regime has instructed voting stations to not stamp voter documents to enable it to forge more votes. The regime has also declared that identification documents don’t need to have pictures, which opens the way for more forgery.
The regime is also forcing soldiers, prisoners, and workers at state-owned factories to vote in its sham elections. In military bases, soldiers who vote are given four-day breaks.
March 1—Zahedan, southeast #Iran
People returning from Friday prayers ignore the voting station for the sham parliamentary elections. #BoycottIranShamElectionspic.twitter.com/oerMj2VTqB— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
According to reports from hundreds of voting stations across Iran, hours after the polling stations opened, very few people cast their votes. In many locations, only IRGC and Basij members voted. In some locations, regime agents are offering bribes up to 20 million rials to voters.
In recently leaked documents, the minister of interior had warned Majlis speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf that “a voter can vote at multiple stations with their national ID.”
March 1—Lahijan, northern #Iran
This voting station is in a neighborhood that is usually crowded. But today, no one has come out as people are boycotting the regime's sham parliamentary elections.#boycottIranShamElectionspic.twitter.com/xRwWTK3yjc— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2024
