2017 Iranian local elections explained

Election Name:2017 Iranian local elections
Country:Iran
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2013 Iranian City and Village Councils elections
Previous Year:2013
Next Election:2021 Iranian City and Village Councils elections
Next Year:2021
Election Date:19 May 2017
1Blank:
Alliance1:Reformists
Swing1: 34≈35 pp
Alliance2:Principlists
Swing2: 22≈26 pp

Local elections were held in Iran on 19 May 2017 to elect members of the City and Village Councils simultaneously with the twelfth presidential election.

Registration

A total number of 287,425 candidates registered in the elections nationwide, including 17,885 women (6.3%). Share of female candidates shows a slight increase in comparison to 2013 elections, when they made up just 5.4%.

Results

See also: 2017 Tehran City Council election.

Provincial capitals

KhabarOnline reported the results for ten major city councils as follows:

CityPrinciplistsReformistsIndependents
Tehran
Mashhad
Isfahan
Karaj
Qom
Shiraz
Tabriz
Yazd
Zahedan
Rasht
Total

Rouhani administration-controlled newspaper Iran and allegedly Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency published detailed reports on the results, with the number of seats won by each bloc as following:

CityPrinciplistsReformistsIndependentsRef
Tabriz
Urmia
Ardabil
Esfahan
Karaj
Ilam
Bushehr
Tehran
Shahr-e Kord
Birjand
Mashhad
Bojnourd
Ahvaz
Zanjan
Semnan
Zahedan
Shiraz
Qazvin
Qom
Sanandaj
Kerman
Kermanshah
Yasuj
Gorgan
Rasht
Khorram Abad
Sari
Arak
Bandar Abbas
Hamadan
Yazd
Total

See also List of results of 2017 Iranian local elections based on provinces for more detailed results.

Highlights

During the elections, a 60-year-old bird seller was placed first in Khorram Abad, campaigning with walking the streets introducing himself to people. In Rasht, a teacher who was sacked after the 1979 Iranian Revolution as well as a street sweeper were elected.

Post-election controversy over non-Muslim councillors

There has been a controversy around the reelection of Sepanta Niknam, a Zoroastrian municipal councillor in Yazd, as there was no clear legislation on the matter. "On April 15, about one month before Iran’s local and presidential elections", Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, had "issued a directive demanding that non-Muslims be disqualified from running in the then-upcoming city and village council elections in localities where most of the population are Muslims".[1] On November 26, 2017, Iranian lawmakers approved the urgency of a bill that would give the right for members of the religious minorities to nominate candidates for the city and village councils elections. The bill secured 154 yes votes, 23 no and 10 abstention. A total of 204 lawmakers were present at the parliament session.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Saeid Jafari, "Zoroastrian takes center stage on Iran’s political scene", Al-Monitor, 2 November 2017
  2. [IRNA]