Even lower turnout was recorded in the run-off elections earlier this month. In Tehran, where only seven percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. On Saturday, Elias Hazrati, the managing editor of Tehran’s leading reformist daily Etemad, pointed out that holding elections with low participation “is a disaster for any country and a more severe one for the Islamic Republic” since the vote of the people is used to validate the legitimacy of the system. In regards to the elections, Iran analyst and journalist Morad Vaisi believes the Islamic Republic is about to enter its third phase. “The first phase was about the left versus the religious right; the second phase was reformists against fundamentalists.
