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Jebhe Mosharekat (Participation Front), the reformist party in Iran that supports former ‎President Mohammad Khatami, has issued a formal protest on the eve of the run off ‎parliamentary elections.‎

The Front presents the following view about the level of public participation in the ‎elections, “From amongst the 49 million eligible voters above 18 years of age announced ‎by the Iran Statistics Center some 23 million Iranians, i.e. 47 percent, participated in the ‎parliamentary elections of March 2, 2008. This is the lowest level when compared with ‎the eight previous parliamentary elections. Of this amount, 30 percent of the voters came ‎from large cities and provincial capitals while in Tehran which is the political nerve ‎center of the country whose residents demonstrate the most political behavior, the ‎number stood at 27 percent. This disappointing low turnout, despite the participation of ‎all the major effective political groups, is indicative of the public’s discontent with the ‎uncompetitive nature of the elections as devised by official authorities, of the public’s ‎distrust of the effectiveness of their votes and of a serious objection about the conditions ‎prevalent in the ninth administration and seventh Majlis.”‎

In this report, the Front also expressly accuses the ruling agencies of violations in the ‎competitiveness of the elections and references specific instances of the same. “Political ‎and government resources, including public and government media and the state radio ‎and television network were blatantly used in the most extensive way possible to ‎campaign for the ruling group and the negation of its rivals so as to solidify the position ‎of the list of pre-identified candidates so that even during the election day and through ‎the use of the nation-wide state radio and television network attempts were made to direct ‎the public into a specific direction through short government announcements,” the ‎statement reads.‎

Furthermore, the Front also points out to the extensive preparations by the conservatists ‎who dominate the government agencies and public offices to illegally intervene in the ‎elections process, but which failed to materialize. “During these elections, in addition to ‎government agencies and public offices affiliated to the ruling group, commanders and ‎the armed forces too openly entered the field in support of the ruling and pro-government ‎groups.”‎

Regarding the elections violations and rigging, the statement reads, “The integrity of the ‎elections was destroyed during the election day and the counting of votes, including the ‎announcement of the results and the confirmation of the election outcome. In Tehran the ‎removal of more than two thirds of observers affiliated with the rival groups from their ‎task of monitoring the ballot boxes, the removal of even more observers during the ballot ‎counting phase of the elections, the absence of the announcement of the total tally of the ‎votes, the questionable announcement of the total counts in the absence of any ‎verification method, complete disregard for the repeated challenges to the counts and the ‎process and the premature announcement of the election results by the Guardians Council ‎are clear indications of the intention to create confusion and raise serious concerns about ‎the integrity of the elections and the undermining of the results of the elections, ‎particularly in Tehran among the majority of political groups, including the opposition ‎inside the ruling group that supports the ninth administration.”‎

The statement stresses the point that despite all the preparations, the pre-designation of ‎seats to specific candidates and the illegal interventions in the elections process, the ‎ruling group failed to secure absolute victory for itself in these unfair elections. “Even by ‎the estimates of the Principalists (as the ruling group likes to call itself) themselves not ‎only has the new Majlis not turned into a unified body, one can predict that non of the ‎current groups will have a simple majority in the Majlis even after the 81 remaining seat ‎are settled during the run off elections. And despite the preparations that the Jebhe ‎Motahed Osoolgaran (the United Coalition of Principalists) had made for the creation of ‎a 200 seat parliamentary faction in the Majlis, of the current 209 seats allocated only 105 ‎belong to the Principalists, many of whom are serious critics and opponents of the current ‎administration, while the remaining belong to the reformists or independents.” This state ‎of affairs is nothing other than an indication of the failure of the ruling group to establish ‎the dominant legislative group in the eight Majlis.‎

The Jebhe Motahed’s statement ends with the message that, “these conditions have come ‎about under circumstances in which reformists entered the elections process with serious ‎handicaps while the majority of the public refrained to fully participate in the elections ‎for many reasons including its disillusionment and perceived ineffectiveness of their ‎participation and the monopolistic practices of the ruling group, even though all political ‎groups called on the public to fully participate in the elections.”‎