On 1 March Iranians went to the polls in historically low numbers. Overall voter turnout in elections for seats in parliament and in the Assembly of Experts – the body that appoints Iran’s supreme leader – was just 41 per cent. In Tehran province, it was as low as 24 per cent.
These numbers are an indication of the profound lack of faith in Iran’s authoritarian regime. There is a huge chasm between what the Iranian state wants and what its citizens want. Tehran continues to spend billions on its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) militia and its proxies in the Middle East. Meanwhile, since September 2022 and the death in police custody of Mahsa Jina Amini for allegedly breaking the country’s hijab law, the “Woman, life, freedom” movement has seen protesters across the country demand an end to the regime’s oppressive rule.
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