The Interior Ministry had previously announced that at least 120,000 members of the State Security Force were deployed to "ensure the security" of the elections.
In a confidential directive number 30/3/2/M-F to all subordinate forces yesterday, the Guards Corps' Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hejazi, commander of the Guards Corps para-military Bassij Force, warned of "possible actions by members of the Monafeqin [Mojahedin]," and put the force on alert to obtain the "needed readiness to deal with possible actions against the security of the elections."
In another directive, the Bassij Force has been organized in "Ashura" battalions and companies and assigned to the task of round-the-clock protection of the voting stations.
To increase the voter turnout, the election headquarters issued two separate directives to governors across the country, stressing that upon Khamenei's orders, the entire military personnel in the garrisons and border regions and priosners can vote without presenting their birth certificates.
Reports by Mojahedin's Command Headquarters inside Iran from thousands of polling stations in Tehran and other cities nevertheless indicate that they were markedly deserted. Reports received so far from Kermanshah, Ardebil, East Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Hamedan, Zanjan, Fars, Khorassan, Khuzistan, Gilan and Mazandaran provinces point to the Iranian people's total disregard for the mullahs' election sham.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 23, 1998
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