Iran eyes big turnout in today’s parliament polls
Conservatives are expected to tighten their grip on Iran's parliament in an election dismissed by the United States but seen by its leaders as the chance to send a defiant message to the West.
Campaigning was banned yesterday for the final day before the elections, where reformists are expected to make only a limited impact after pre-vote vetting disqualified hundreds of their candidates.
Top officials and state media have made every effort to emphasise the importance of a massive turnout to show national unity at a time of mounting tension with the West over the Iranian nuclear programme.
State television has been repeatedly playing patriotic music and pictures of long queues of people voting in past elections, as well as running interviews with ordinary and famous Iranians emphasizing the importance of voting.
"Iranians will take part in the elections today more gloriously than the past and will thwart plots of bullying powers to undermine the Islamic system," said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech.
The authorities will be hoping there is no repeat of the slack turnout in the last legislative vote in 2004 when barely half the electorate voted nationwide and less than 40 percent in Tehran.
The United States -- Iran's arch enemy which accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons technology and of meddling in Iraq -- dismissed the elections as likely to be a sham.
"All I can say is we have very low expectations that people will be able to actually express themselves and their will because the Iranian people really don't want to be isolated, and unfortunately the current regime further isolates them by their actions," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Reformists have admitted the disqualifications mean they can only contest half the available seats, leaving a clear run for conservatives to retain control of the chamber.
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