Intl. news agencies report high turnout in Iran election

TEHRAN,June 16(MNA) – International news agencies around the world kept a close watch on Friday’s presidential poll in Iran and reported high voter turnout in an election where over 50 million people were eligible to cast ballots. Friday’s presidential election was the Islamic Republic’s first since 2009, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected. In that year, the turnout was reported to be 85 percent. Reuters, in a story entitled “Voters split but turnout high in Iran election,” wrote, “Iranian voters turned out in larger numbers on Friday to choose a new president…, with long queues forming outside polling stations.” The report added, “Witnesses who visited several polling stations in the capital Tehran early in the day said there were more people waiting to vote than at the previous election in 2009.” Al Jazeera quoted Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American journalist, as saying that the high turnout rate could be because of the fact that people in Iran believe there is going to be change as there is a lot of excitement that Rohani could win. Also, a report on an Al Jazeera blog read, “For those who said it was the duty of Iranians to vote, they seem to be proven correct. People came out to vote in large numbers – Iranian media reported 80 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. And that’s one thing Iranians wanted – to have their say, for everyone to have a say and make a decision about their own futures.” “In (Hosseiniyeh) Ershad, one of the most popular polling stations in northern Tehran, the voting line spread out the door and along the footpath – it stayed that way all day,” the report said. In addition, BBC wrote, “Millions of voters across Iran have cast their ballots in the country’s presidential elections. With long queues outside polling stations well into the afternoon, the interior ministry extended voting by five hours, until 23:00.” And the New York Times reported, “With long lines at the polls, voting hours were extended by five hours in parts of Tehran and four hours in the rest of the country.” Professor Mohammad Marandi of Tehran University told Sky News that the high turnout suggested Iranians attached great importance to the balloting, and said the economy had emerged as the key issue, with candidates focusing “a lot on the economy, jobs, and inflation.” The News Tribune wrote, “Many Iranians had said they’d boycott the voting out of disaffection with the political system. But that disaffection apparently did not hold, as the government twice extended voting hours, first to 8 p.m. and then to 11 p.m. The 80 percent turnout was unusually high.” An AP report read, “Iranians traditionally have shown high interest in voting. The average reported turnout in the past 10 presidential election is more than 67 percent, with officials saying there was 85 percent participation in 2009.” In another report, AP wrote about expats voting in the United States, saying, “Iranian-Americans and expatriates cast ballots Friday in polling places across the United States, joining their countrymen half a world away in selecting the next Iranian president.” In Tampa, Fla., people from as far as North Carolina voted in a hotel conference room, said Abbas Hashemy, a 56-year-old business owner who was overseeing the polling place.” According to AP, U.S. Census figures show about 414,000 Iranians live in the United States. California has the most, and six of the 20 polling places around the country were located there. Besides the Los Angeles area, San Diego and San Francisco, cities where balloting was held included Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C.