BASIRAT POLITICAL CENTER
ALIHASSAN HEYDARI
The path to the realization of democracy passes through election, one of the
elements of political participation which is also one of the measures of
democracy, as people can directly express their views about important decisions
through voting. Voter turnout is also one of the criteria of political
development which displays people’s dedication to their home country.
The rate of voter turnout is not considerable in many advanced countries that
are advocates of democracy in the world, despite the long history of democracy
in these countries. Holding elections, having the right to vote and
participating in election is still a challenge in Middle Eastern countries. In
the Islamic Republic of Iran, however, the rate of participation in elections is
high. The first election in the Islamic Republic of Iran was held only 45 days
after the victory of Islamic Republic, which marks the shortest gap between the
victory of a revolution and organization of a vote in the history.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has introduced a model of government based on
religious democracy, the main elements of which are people and religion.
Nowadays this model is competing with Western democratic systems. Although Iran
is still the target of propaganda and plots of enemies 38 years after the
victory of the Islamic Revolution, the comparison between the rate of voter
turnout in different elections in Iran with countries that advocate democracy
shows that Iranian people are more enthusiastic for political participation.
Furthermore, the below statistics illustrates the fact that despite the
distorted reflection of religious democracy and freedom in political
participation in Iran, religious democracy in the Islamic Republic is far more
superior to the manipulated and distorted democracy in the United States and
certain European countries.
Table: voter turnout in presidential election in Western countries
Row | Country | Year |
Turnout Percentage |
Election Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Austria | 2010 | 53.56 | Presidential |
2 | France | 2012 | 80.35 | Presidential |
3 | Portugal | 2011 | 46.52 | Presidential |
4 | Romania | 2009 | 58.02 | Presidential |
5 | Russia | 2012 | 65.27 | Presidential |
6 | United States | 2012 | 57.5 | Presidential |
Table: voter turnout in presidential election in Islamic republic of Iran
Term | Date | President Elect |
Turnout Persentage |
---|---|---|---|
1th | 1980-01-25 | Abolhassan Banisadr | 67.86 |
2th | 1981-07-24 | Mohammad-Ali Rajai | 62.24 |
3rd | 1981-10-02 | Sayyid Ali Khamenei | 74.26 |
4th | 1985-08-16 | Sayyid Ali Khamenei | 54.78 |
5th | 1989-07-28 | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | 54.56 |
6th | 1993-06-11 | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | 50.66 |
7th | 1997-05-23 | Seyyed Mohammad Khatami | 76.66 |
8th | 2001-06-08 | Seyyed Mohammad Khatami | 67.77 |
9th / First Stage | 2005-06-17 | - | 62.66 |
9th / Second Stage | 2005-06-24 | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | 56.82 |
10th | 2009-06-12 | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad | 85 |
11th | 2013-06-14 | Hassan Rouhani | 72.8 |
12th | 2017-05-19 | Hassan Rouhani | 73 |