Voting Machines Operating Flawlessly: Iran ICT Minister

Speaking to reporters at the Elections Headquarters of the Interior Ministry on Friday morning, Zarepour said the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has prepared the necessary infrastructures for e-voting across the country and has established a sustainable communication network that allows for the online collection of data from the voting machines.

He noted that almost 100 percent of the electronic voting machines have been connected to the network after the run-off parliamentary polls kicked off at 8 am.

The ICT minister said the flawless process of election with the use of electronic ballot boxes is the result of his ministry’s efforts during the past two years and a half, as more than 7,500 villages with over 20 families and more than 3,000 villages with fewer than 20 families have been connected to the countrywide network offering the Internet and telecommunication services.

The governor of Tehran has said that around 3,700 electronic voting machines are available in Tehran Province’s polling stations, including 311 mobile voting machines that are taken to hospitals, military bases, and university dormitories.

A total of 90 candidates are running for the 45 remaining seats in the Iranian Parliament in the run-off elections, held in 22 constituencies where the candidates had failed to receive an absolute majority (more than 50%) of votes during the first round held on March 1.

The countrywide elections for the Parliament and the Assembly of Experts were held on March 1.

Around 61 million Iranian people were eligible to vote, including 3.5 million first-time voters.

The elections were held in around 60,000 polling stations across Iran.

There are currently 290 seats in the Iranian Parliament, known as Majlis, elected by direct vote of people in nationwide elections for four years.