A by-election was held on 18 June 2021 for three vacant seats of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran Province, caused by death of Ebrahim Amini, Hashem Bathaie and Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri. It was held along with three other elections, including the presidential election, the city council election and the parliamentary by-election.[1]
Like the by-election held the previous year, it was an uncontested election without presence of rival moderates who had won the 2016 election by a landslide. As expected, it resulted in victory of all three candidates supported by The Two Societies.
The number of invalid votes cast in the election and its turnout were not officially declared by the authorities.
Campaign
editHeydar Moslehi, Iran's former intelligence minister who ran as a candidate, tried to launch a high-profile campaign by giving controversial interviews.[2] He made an embarrassment for the establishment when he revealed that he ordered the Guardian Council to disqualify Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the 2013 presidential elections due to surveys showing he will win at least 60% of the votes.[3]
Results
edit| # | Candidate | Electoral list | Votes | % | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCA | SST | |||||||
| 1 | Alireza Arafi | 
|
|
1,029,372 | 34.75 | Elected | ||
| 2 | Hossein-Ali Sa'di |
|
|
656,011 | 22.15 | |||
| 3 | Ahmad Momen |
|
|
584,549 | 19.73 | |||
| 4 | Heydar Moslehi | 444,035 | 14.99 | Defeated | ||||
| 5 | Ali Razini | 237,444 | 8.02 | |||||
| 6 | Ali Rahmanifar | 190,348 | 6.43 | |||||
| 7 | Ahmad Mousavi-Vadeghani | 186,963 | 6.31 | |||||
| 8 | Ali Gharibdoust | 154,762 | 5.22 | |||||
| 9 | Hamid Shahriari | 125,588 | 4.24 | |||||
| 10 | Mansour Mazaheri-Karvani | 72,331 | 2.44 | |||||
| 11 | Kazem Sepasi-Ashtiani | 65,140 | 2.20 | |||||
| 12 | Reza Mohagheghian-Gourtani | 16,985 | 0.57 | |||||
| Blank/Invalid Votes | Not Declared | |||||||
| Total Votes | 2,962,047 | 100 | ||||||
| Source: Tehran Province Governorate | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Multiple elections could boost hardline victories in Iran", Atlantic Council, 5 March 2021, retrieved 25 June 2021
- ^ "Iranian press review: Establishment hoping for low voter turnout", Middle East Eye, 17 June 2021, retrieved 25 June 2021
- ^ Wintour, Patrick (16 June 2021), "Iran hardliners fight to ensure Ebrahim Raisi wins presidential election", The Guardian, retrieved 25 June 2021
