The election turn-out was very low in the Arab majority province of Khuzestan, with reports of deserted polling stations and negligible voting in some Arab districts.
The regime has given various turn-out figures, some as high as 80%. Officially, turn-out was 56% - a figure rejected by Ahwazi parties. The turn-out was probably less than 25% in Khuzestan, due to the boycott, the authorities' refusal to allow people to vote and general apathy.
Reformist presidential candidates have attacked the elections for widespread fraud and intimidation, with the regime accused of directing terrorist attacks to boost the vote of hard-liners.
Despite widespread electoral fraud, intimidation and a low-turn out in Khuzestan, reformist Mehdi Karrubi - a former Majlis speaker - topped the poll with more than a third of votes cast. He was followed by former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, who won around a fifth of votes. Hardline Tehran Mayor Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, who gained the backing of the religious elite, came third with just one in six of the votes.
It is unclear whether these results reflect the voting intentions of those who voted due to irregularities. But the flawed official results show that the candidate that topped the poll in Khuzestan, Mehdi Karrubi, will not be included in the second round run-off elections between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinezhad. Karrubi won roughly the same amount of votes as Rafsanjani and Ahmadinezhad combined.
With up to 80 per cent of the population of Khuzestan failing to vote in the first round, the elections revealed that most people in the Arab majority province have rejected Iran's political system.
Official results for Khuzestan
Mehdi Karrubi: 539,158 (34.5%)
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani: 319,883 (20.5%)
Mahmud Ahmadinezhad: 224,427 (14.4%)
Mustafa Moin: 148,375 (9.5%)
Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf: 148,207 (9.5%)
Ali Larijani: 58,554 (3.7%)
Mohsen Mehralizadeh: 20,253 (1.3%)
Total vote cast = 1,563,000 or 56% of eligible voters
Labels: elections
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keywords: ahvaz ahwaz ahwazi arabistan khuzestan khuzistan khuzestani arab arabistan iran iranian human rights security oil news ahmadinejad ethnic cleansing
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