Iranian local elections, 2006

Iranian City and Village Councils elections, 2006

15 December 2006

1,231 councils 207,587 councilors   First party Second party   Leader Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf Mohammad Ali Najafi Party ISE ECP Alliance Conservatives Reformists Councils 900 325 Councils +/– +875 –880 Councillors 102,922 96,857 Councillors +/– +885,101 –17,708

The Iranian City and Village Councils election of 2006 took place on December 15, 2006. People elected representatives for City and Village Councils, who in their turn elected the mayors.

The elections happened on the same day as the election for the Assembly of Experts.

Candidates

Every city and village in the country elected representatives. Iran's 46.5 million eligible voters elected about 233,000 candidates for more than 113,000 city and rural council posts.^[1]

Tehran's candidates, as the largest city in the country and the capital, included more famous candidates. These included former politicians Mohammad Ali Najafi (former Vice President under Mohammad Khatami and Minister of Education under Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani), Ahmad Masjed-Jamei (former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance under Khatami), Masoumeh Ebtekar (former Vice President under Khatami and spokeswoman of Iranian students in Iran hostage crisis); sportsmen Hadi Saei (Taekwondo athlete and gold medalist in 2004 Summer Olympics), Rasoul Khadem (wrestler and gold medalist in 1996 Summer Olympics) and Alireza Dabir (wrestler and gold medalist in 2000 Summer Olympics); and even Parvin Ahmadinejad, sister of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Also notable is that the reformist parties reached a consensus to have a unified list of candidates for the election, contrary to the previous election where every reformist party had a separate list, some not even sharing a single candidate.

Voting results

These fifteen candidates were later confirmed elected as the Tehran City councillors. ^[3]

Other cities

Partial results about other cities indicate:^[4]

• In Isfahan, Ahmadinejad's supporters won three out of 11 seats
• In Tabriz, Ahmadinejad's supporters won four out of 16 seats
• In Qom, Ahmadinejad's supporters won three out of 9 seats
• In Shiraz, Ahmadinejad's supporters won one out of 11 seats
• In Ardabil, Ahmadinejad's supporters won one out of 9 seats

Controversy about the results

The reformist candidates protested Ministry of Interior delays in announcing provisional results, and its failure to announce provisional results for two days after the end of the election. This contravened normal practice, where results were announced gradually as vote counting was under way. The candidates also claimed fraud in counting the votes, mentioning lost vote boxes^[5] and newly found boxes that reported zero votes for the reformist candidates.^[6]

References and notes

1. ^ Reuters (2006-12-15). "Iran votes in elections seen as test for Ahmadinejad". Retrieved 2006-12-21. 
2. ^ ISNA (2006-12-21). "The final list of 21 first people getting the most votes for Tehran city council (فهرست نهایی ۲۱ نفر اول حائزان بیشترین آرای شورای شهر تهران)" (in Persian). Retrieved 2006-12-21. 
3. ^ Ahmadinejad Tehran defeat confirmed, Middle East Online, 2006-12-21
4. ^ "Ahmadi-Nejad suffers vote setback in Iran".  
5. ^ "10 boxes were lost (‏۱۰ صندوق گم شد)" (in Persian). 2006-12-17. Retrieved 2006-12-21. 
6. ^ "Five new boxes entered the vote counting site four days after the end of voting (پنج صندوق جدید، چهار روز پس از پایان رأی‌گیری به سایت شمارش آرا وارد شد)" (in Persian). 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2006-12-21. 

External links

• 'Iranian President suffers defeat in local elections', CityMayors, 21 December 2006
• Impressive Performance of Women in City Council Elections