Winning the Conservatives in most seats in Majles did not come as a surprise - not only did the opponents of the regime not vote, they also had no one to vote • The low turnout indicates the people's distrust of the regime

• Photo: AFP

Iran went to the polls on Friday to select 208 of 290 Majles representatives - the House of Representatives (the rest will be elected in April) of the Islamic Republic. That is, a third of voters went to the polls, and according to videos posted on the network, many were soldiers brought to the polls.

Winning the Conservatives in most Majles seats didn't surprise anyone. Not only did the opponents of the regime not vote, they also had no one to vote for.

The Islamic Republic has four elections for Majles (the legislature) every four years, and a president (the chief executive) is also elected every four years, and the Council of Experts - the council that oversees the supreme leader and, in its next election, also replaces it - every eight years. A real celebration of democracy. On this celebration is a small council called the Constitution Guardians Council. Its 12 members are appointed directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader. They approve (or do not) the laws passed in Majlis, and they screen candidates in all election campaigns. And they learn from their own mistakes.

For example, after the reformist candidate Mir Hussein Musawi did not win in 2009, and all his supporters and opponents of the regime took to the streets - in 2013, the "problematic" candidates were screened at the Constitution Guardian Council, thus allowing the choice of Rouhani - the moderate of all the filtered candidates, who did not think that would endanger the regime. .

After the 2016 Majles election, the House of Representatives was filled with reformers - this time the Constitution Guardians Council has reformed candidates, including 90 members of the Majles. The change seekers simply had no one to vote for.

In addition, many Iranians have not voted at all for years because voting is a form of expressing support for the system. After 2009 and the "Where's My Voice" protest, we saw greater participation in the 2013 elections (Rouhani was chosen for that reason, among other things), and indeed Khamenei hurried to congratulate and declare that the true winner of the election is the people, and did not forget to indicate that the high turnout indicates the people's confidence in the system. To which the opponents of the regime reside.

The current election campaign, which came in close proximity to two huge waves of demonstrations - the November fuel riots and the protest over the regime's lies in the Ukrainian plane crash in January - was characterized mainly by opposition to the very existence of democratic misrepresentation.

We saw pictures and videos of tearing or igniting election signs, smashing windows in election headlines, and "I don't vote" graphics.

Conservative takeover of the Majles would have happened anyway. Low voter turnout indicates the ever-difficult crisis of confidence between the people and the government. Is the change imminent? One day more than yesterday.

The author is an expert on Iran from Shalem Academic Center and Azri Center, and author of "The Book of Esther: Behind the Mask", published by Zarash