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Iranian Mullahs Exaggerate Voting Numbers
.... The government has tried to make voter participation seem higher than it really was by manipulating voting statistics. The Guardians Council declared that there are 43 million eligible voters according to "Kayhan" on 19 February, whereas the Interior Ministry said that there are 46,351,032 eligible voters, .... Voters queued outside a mosque in east Tehranâs Nabavat Square for film crews, but the daily cited locals as saying that the "voters" were not locals and were brought in for the cameras. Some government employees said they had been ordered to vote and needed their identity cards stamped .... Elections are sometimes preceded by reports about the existence of duplicate identification cards, which people must present to vote. With duplicate cards, individuals can vote more than once. Those who werenât residents of Tehran reportedly were given these ID cards so they could vote in the capital. Four years ago, the government stated that people who have forged ID cards, ID cards of dead people, and ID cards that do not belong to them could turn in the cards with no questions asked. Minister of Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi on 18 February dismissed reports about the existence of 2 million extra cards, IRNA reported, and he added that disseminating such rumors is a prosecutable crime. State Registry official Abdullah Ansari denied in the 17 February "Iran" that a large number of new cards were issued recently. Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-02-23 |
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