Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 09/2008

PolicyWatch #1364: Iranian Parliamentary Elections and Ahmadinezhad's Discontents

Mehdi Khalaji

April 2008

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Abstract

On April 25, a second round of voting will determine the remaining eighty-eight seats of the Iranian Majlis. The first round, held on March 14, decided 202 seats and was considered a defeat for both the reformists and President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad. His reaction to the setback -- the dismissal of Interior Minister Mustafa Pur-Muhammadi, responsible for conducting the election -- is indicative of the difficult times ahead for the president and his allies, whose public and official support is steadily diminishing.