Local council elections go unnoticed in Tehran
While neighborhood council elections in Tehran have shown promise, critics say they lack meaningful channels to implement change.
Tehran — a metropolis with 7.8 million inhabitants, 22 districts and 354 neighborhoods — conducted its fourth set of neighborhood council elections in March. More than 13,000 candidates ran for office, and according to high-ranking municipality officials, the number is a significant increase compared with 2009 elections. Still, although voter turnout was significant, there are doubts about the effectiveness of the councils in the framework of urban policymaking.
Ali Babaei, mayor of Tehran's district 6, said in an interview with Iranian media that "a significant increase in the number of candidates compared with past rounds is a sign of intense competition among people to help each other and also to improve urban management."
Voter turnout in the recent elections was 575,000 people. Statistics are not published on the number of eligible voters for the neighborhood council elections. Since Tehran had 5.5 million eligible voters for the 2013 presidential elections and both elections allowed people above 18 to cast their votes, it can be concluded that over 10 percent of eligible voters participated in the neighborhood council elections.
Approximately 2,500 people — 2,170 men and 308 women — were elected as main members of neighborhood councils. The results show that relatively younger voters were the leading group in terms of participation: 40% of the participants were between the ages of 25 and 40 and 27% between 40 and 50.
