- Less than 50,000 people voted in yesterday's election in Tehran, meaning turnout less than 1 percent
- Rajavi: Tehran residents' solid boycott of sham election is a rude awakening for those who try to portray Khatami and his faction as reformers and representatives of Iranian people

The overwhelming boycott of the second round of Majlis election in Tehran yesterday turned into a political fiasco for the mullahs' regime in general and Khatami's faction in particular. Eye witness accounts collected from hundreds of polling stations across the capital by the Mojahedin Command inside Iran and secret internal reports prepared by the Interior Ministry showed that the number of people who turned out to vote was less than 50,000, meaning that the turnout in Tehran was less than one percent.

A secret report sent to the Interior Ministry's election headquarters pointed out: "In Tehran's Electoral District 6, the reports and figures collected from the whole district by the district supervisor by 5 pm today showed that in 80 ballot boxes, 1400 votes had been cast, which registers an average of less than 20 votes in each box. Also in Electoral District 5, by 5:30 pm today, 1,647 votes had been cast in 98 ballot boxes, registering an average of less than 17 votes per box."

Districts 5 and 6 are both densely populated middle class areas of Tehran and Khatami's faction claimed in previous elections that it enjoyed greater support in these districts. When he was casting his vote yesterday morning, Khatami told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, that "there is no difference between the first and second stages." He "invited the people, particularly the young voters, to show a vivid presence in this election." (IRNA, June 30).

National Council of Resistance President Massoud Rajavi described yesterday's unprecedented boycott by the people of Tehran as a sign of general discontent with the mullahs' inhuman regime and its election masquerades. He said: "The wholesome unity displayed today by the people of Tehran in defiance of the mullahs' regime is a rude awakening for all those who, in pursuit of their own economic and political interests, are trying to portray Khatami and his criminal gang as 'reformers' and representatives of the Iranian people."

"Beyond the mullahs' election games, the harsh reality is that the strife within the ruling body is becoming deeper and more acute," Rajavi said. "This is bound to result in whole new developments in the coming months, particularly as the next round of the internecine power struggle has already begun over next year's presidential election. This is already shaping all the political and propaganda maneuvering of the ruling mullahs. It is there that the mullahs' Supreme Leader must make up his mind: either retreat and lose his domination, or seek to confront the rival faction through violence and Khomeini-style tactics to prevent Khatami from gaining a second term."

"Whatever happens, time is up for mullah's rule in Iran and the final victors are the Iranian people and the Resistance," he said.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 1, 2000

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