The Iranian people have had enough

The record low turnout for parliamentary elections in Iran, which took place on Friday, is another blow to the regime’s attempts to pretend that all is well in the country. Early reports suggest a turnout of just under 41 per cent nationwide. Iranians in their millions have rejected the regime by choosing to stay at home rather than vote.

The elections were never really about the final results (victory is pretty much guaranteed for the motley crew of religious hardliners and social conservatives endorsed by the ruling clerics), but about how many people would actually bother to vote. Turnout matters to the mullahs because the election process exists to give the regime the veneer of democratic legitimacy. That’s why in recent weeks the authorities have been doing everything they can to boost voting numbers. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly urged people to vote, describing it as a national duty.