BRIEF ON IRAN Elections Special Edition Monday, March 11, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #103 Washington, DC 20007 Mr. Rajavi: Comprehensive Election Farce Boycott Reflects Mullahs' Total Illegitimacy, from a statement by NCR, March 8 Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, hailed the Iranian people for their comprehensive boycott of today's election sham. He described the no vote as indicating the Iranian people's profound disdain toward the illegitimate clerical regime. Mr. Rajavi added: This was a resounding defeat and a devastating blow to the medieval dictatorship. It will doubtless aggravate as never before its internal crises and feuding, pushing it toward greater suppression and further terrorism. The NCR President described the affirmative response to the Resistance's call for the election boycott as reflecting support for the Resistance and its President-elect, Mrs. Rajavi, by the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people.... Reports by hundreds of Iranian Resistance's observers from thousands of polling stations in Tehran and other cities indicate that most were deserted and in many of them until 8:00 PM, local time, shortly before the polls closed, less than 30 people had cast their votes. ...To increase the number of eligible voters, they had reduced the voting age to 15. This means that some 37 million Iranians were eligible to vote. Mr. Rajavi stressed that today's litmus test once again proved that in no way does this regime represent the Iranian people and that there are no excuses to continue placating policies such as critical dialogue which sacrifices human rights before petty economic interests. Today, many countries have stated their outrage and the Iranian people their abhorrence at this policy which only emboldens Tehran's sinister rulers to continue and step up human rights abuses, and to export terrorism and fundamentalism, he noted. The NCR President added: To keep tight control over the situation, since several months ago, the mullahs' faltering regime adopted new suppressive laws and eliminated its collaborators and partners from the election and intensified its terrorist activities abroad.... Candidates Offer Little Choice as Iran Elects New Parliament, The Washington Times, March 9 Choosing from a slate of Islamic fundamentalists aproved by the central government, iranians voted yesterday for a new parliament that must find ways to revive the country's stagnant economy.... But based on turnout in previous national elections, it was expected to be around 50 percent or less, reflecting political apathy and the limited choices available.... The 270 seats were contested by 2,946 candidates who all support fundamentalist Islamic rule and are mostly hostile to the West.... While the voting was uneventful in Tehran, the Iraq- based Mojahedin Khalq group, the main Iranian opposition movement, said Iranian government agents killed one of their activists in Baghdad Thursday night. It was the sixth assassination of a Mojahedin member in Baghdad since May. Mojahedin officials also said in statements that their movement's leader, Massoud Rajavi, defied government jamming efforts and beamed satelite TV broadcasts into Iran urging an election boycot.... Iran Elections Likely to Fan Fanaticism, The Washington Times, March 8 Against a background of Islamic terror in Israel, fundamentalist Iran is staging parliamentary elections today that are expected to increase the uncompromising stand of the Tehran regime.... The elections are expected to confirm the influence of the "Society of Militant Clergy" backing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader, who is basically opposed to reforms unsuccessfully tried by President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.... Voter Turnout Not Great by Any Standards, BBC,March 8 ...Our reporter, Kasra Naji, was in Tehran witnessing the elections. Naji: They played revolutionary and anti-American music.... Thay want to encourage people to go to the polls and vote. Q.: Based on what you have witnessed, are there a lot of people voting? Naji: They say people's participation around the country has been great and earlier, the interior minister estimated a 30% increase in voter turnout compared to 4 years ago; however, in Tehran, based on what I have witnessed, there has been a continuous but slow current of voters which is not great by any standards. Astronomical Lies to Cover Up Iranians' Comprehensive Boycott of Election Farce, from a statement by NCR, March 10 Following the Iranian people's comprehensive boycott of the regime's sham elections, in an interview with the regime's radio, the head of the election commission brazenly claimed that by Sunday afternoon, more than 20 million votes had been counted and that the counting continues. The resort to such astronomical lies coincides with a report from the Resistance's sources within the Interior Ministry that officials were furious over the extensive boycott of the elections and predicted that at most 3.5 million, less than 10% of the eligible voters, would participate in the voting.... It is worthy of note that on the basis of documents obtained by the Resistance, low voter turnout prompted Khamenei to issue a decree eliminating the need to present birth certificate in order to vote.