June 16, 2017
Before the election, we quoted the Interior Ministry as saying it had printed 200 million ballots even though only 56 million Iranians were old enough to vote. But Interior Minister Abdol-Reza Rahmani-Fazli (photo) last week told the Majlis 68 million ballots had been printed, a much more reasonable number. Rahmani-Fazli also said the “most important message” of those who voted was that “they believe in the revolution’s ideals.” He also said, “The large turnout changed regional and international calculations in our favor.” As the Iran Times reported after the election, the turnout, while good, was nowhere the percentages achieved in many countries.
