Tehran, Iran, February 26
By mehdi sepahvand - Trend:
If a large number of people show up at the polling booths today, it will show the waste of foreign propaganda, that Iranians are dismayed with the government, Expediency Council member Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani said.
Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani is the brother of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of the Expediency Council and former Iranian president.
The number of voters will indicate how hopeful people are about rendering their future themselves, he told Trend February 26.
Asked about his opinion of the next parliament's priorities, he said that the parliament is the country's legislative body and will have to consider all issues when the occasion comes up.
"It has to take care of all political, economic, and cultural issues and more," he said.
Iranians are voting today to elect 290 members of the parliament and 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics and lawyers that will see to the qualification of the country's leader.
During the round of elections, 4,844 candidates are competing, while about 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote. Each nominee should get at least 25 percent of votes in his constituency, otherwise the second round of elections is held, a month after the results of the first round.