Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Today amidst of the country's worst institutional crises, which also jeopardizes the outcome of this year's elections, Iranians went to cast their ballots to elect new members of parliament. Yet while polling stations were opened at 8 a.m., voter turnout has been minimal.

Yesterday the reformist party, led by Mohammad Khatami, was hit hard for the umpteenth time. The latest blow was delivered by Chief Prosecutor Said Mortasavi who ordered the reformist newspaper, Sharq e Yas-e-Nau, to be closed. The daily had published excerpts from a letter which some hundred members of parliament had written against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's highest religious authority, because he approved the removal of at least 2500 reformist candidates from electoral lists.    

Human Right Watch (HRW) asked the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to pass a resolution during its annual meeting scheduled for March 15 which would condemn the deterioration of human rights conditions in Iran and send a special observer to the country,

Various political parties have already announced their defeat and voiced their intentions of boycotting the elections.

Infact a mass boycott is expected with an extremely low voter turnout –  some analysts predicting around  30% and even as little as a 10% turn out at some polling stations in the capital. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei has begged Iranian citizens, especially young people, to go and vote. He says it represents an Islamic duty. Even if there is no obligation to vote, voter I.D. cards will be stamped if they do.

People feel disillusioned and no longer trust the current government and Khatami who, since he gained power in 1997 and reelected in 2001, has promised many liberal reforms. A power struggle with the Council of Guardians, the protectors of fundamentalist Islam, has made Khatami all the more shy about his pushing forward his political agenda. His popularity is now drastically spiraling downward.   

But Nahid, a 19 year-old medical student, says she has no intention of voting: "There is no one for met to vote. The candidates won't do the things they say they will. I voted for the reelection of President Khatami. But the current situation is entirely his fault. If he had been more determined, the situation would have improved."    

Ali Hekmat, a journalist who has worked with Khatami, said the president "tries to keep his balance and is quite fearful that society will fall prey to anarchy and chaos."

Hekmat further said of Khatami: "His caution is understandable. I don't think he'll resign, since he's afraid of the consequences society would experience." (MR)