Liked on YouTube: Hardliners set to win majority in Iran election

Hardliners set to win majority in Iran election

(18 Feb 2020) Ahead of Iran's parliamentary election on Friday, many Tehran residents are questioning whether their vote will matter in bringing an end to political corruption and the country's economic crisis. With hard-line conservative candidates expected to win a majority of seats, and as public trust in authorities has soared over economic hardship and recent tension with the United States, the ballot box turnout on Feb 21. could be affected. "Why should we really vote in the election? What bills are the Members of Parliament supposed to pass? Inflation? Embezzlement? If it is a serious parliament, it must prevent the rising prices and misery," said Mohsen Kamalzadeh, a taxi service manager. Kamalzadeh is one of many Tehran residents affected by severe price hikes in Iran, imposed partly as a result of international sanctions. "I have to purchase this special medicine. Today I paid four times more than I paid last week to get this medication," Kamalzadeh said, adding that he was still going to vote to do what he could to improve the situation. Accounting student Nazanin Yunesi said it should not be that someone as young as herself faces seeing mobile prices "jump threefold" overnight. "What kind of stability is that? How am I expected to build my future life?" As political campaigning continued, senior Iranian officials - including President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - urged the nation to vote; partly to build new confidence for the country's Shiite theocracy, while also showing unity toward to US. Friday's vote is by many viewed as a test to the popularity of the relatively moderate and pro-reform bloc led by Rouhani, who has struggled to deliver on campaign promises to improve people's lives, leaving citizens concerned about security, unemployment, and not being able to make ends meet. Ahead of the vote, many believe that former Tehran mayor and leading hard-line candidate Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, will do well in the election. In the capital, hard-liners and conservatives may win a majority as the race suffers from a lack of competition after many prominent pro-reform candidates were barred from running. The powerful Guardian Council, the country's constitutional watchdog which vets prospective candidates, barred more than 7,000 prospective candidates out of 14,000 who had applied - a majority of which were reformist and moderate politicians, however, some hard-liners were also rejected. The current 290-member parliament, elected in 2016, has more than 100 reformists and moderates, while the rest of the chamber is split between independents and hard-liners. Find out more about AP Archive: https://ift.tt/1CUvJt1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://ift.tt/2mlr9BZ Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/102011028589719587178/+APArchive​ Tumblr: https://aparchives.tumblr.com/​​ Instagram: https://ift.tt/2G5Qog8 You can license this story through AP Archive: https://ift.tt/2SReLYI
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