1. According to a report prepared for Khatami by the Interior Ministry's elections headquarters, the number of voters in Tehran until 4:00 p.m., local time (seven hours after the polls opened) is far less than that in previous elections and far below the expectations of the election HQ.
Reports received from Tehran's 22 electoral regions show that in many polling stations the number of votes cast so far is half that of the 1997 presidential elections in the same time period.
2. The Mojahedin Command in Iran, monitoring thousands of polling stations across the country, reported that the voting stations in Fars, Isfahan, Gilan, Lorestan and Chahar-Mahal Provinces are deserted.
3. There is a heavy presence of the regime's military, security and intelligence forces at the polling stations. A confidential memorandum, No. 1/1/4286 from the office of the paramilitary Bassij commander, signed by Brig. Gen. Alireza Tamizi, calls on all Bassij commanders across the country that "in light of the recent activities by the Mojahedin and the possibility of any other activity, they order all regional and district intelligence officials and staff to use the Bassij intelligence agents and demonstrate an active presence from February 17 to 19 and monitor the protected regions."
To control the situation, the clerical regime has deployed hundreds of thousands of personnel in its five suppressive forces, the Revolutionary Guards, the State Security Forces, the Guards Corps' Bassij, the Intelligence Ministry and the Army."
4. The deserted polling stations prompted the state television to stop live broadcast of the voting process. Western journalists are mostly taken to specific areas in the capital's densely-populated central districts.
5. This morning, an intense clash broke out in the main square in the city of Abadeh in Fars province between Khamenei and Khatami's supporters, leaving scores from both camps injured.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 18, 2000
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