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A Power Showdown in Iran

Aired February 20, 2004 - 14:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A power showdown in Iran. Reformists, banned from the ballot, urge voters to boycott. Hardliners called on citizens to fulfill their duty and vote. Who won?
CNN's Matthew Chance live from Tehran -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, well, it's not easy for us to say at this point. You can give an independent assessment of how many people actually turned out to vote in these controversial elections that are, of course, set to sweep hard line conservatives into the country's parliament, a parliament that has been dominated for the past four years by reform-minded politicians. Those politicians, those reformists, at least most of them, have been barred from standing in these elections by the country's hardline leadership, hardline conservative leadership. Others have chosen to boycott the elections in protest. But voter turnout has been one of the key issues, simply because the hard liners face no real opposition in most areas.

What the reformist leaders are saying if there is a low turnout, then that will be some kind of protest, and therefore, a small moral victory at least for them. But as I say, we're waiting to see what the final official count will be. The ballot boxes are closed now. They closed at 10:00 here local time, four hours after they were supposed to close. The authorities doing their utmost to ensure as many people who wanted to vote to get to the polling stations and do that. We're waiting to see what the official figure of turnout will be -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Matthew, two quick questions. Number one, are there international observers? And, No. 2, how is it going to be this is a legitimate count on the voter turnout? And will reformists have faith in that number that the government gives them?

CHANCE: Well, first of all, on the international observers, there aren't any here in short. But there are Iranian observers here from across the political spectrum have been monitoring that the vote in it's actual process is free and fair. But the real controversy has been the exclusion of so many reformist candidates and the fact that the hardliners have been unopposed.

Will the actual tally be legitimate? Well, we'll have to see about that, too. Certainly not in the eyes of the reformists, who say that this vote is not fair, simply because they've been excluded. There's also the issue of whether people have been intimidated into voting, those that have voted. It's certainly true to say that people here are -- get a stamp in their passports when they go to the polling stations, a stamp which can ease their way through certain bureaucratic leapholes in this country. Whether that was a factor in the minds of people who actually went to vote, That's unclear -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN's Matthew Chance live from Tehran, following the elections there. Thanks so much, Matthew.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 20, 2004 - 14:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A power showdown in Iran. Reformists, banned from the ballot, urge voters to boycott. Hardliners called on citizens to fulfill their duty and vote. Who won?
CNN's Matthew Chance live from Tehran -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, well, it's not easy for us to say at this point. You can give an independent assessment of how many people actually turned out to vote in these controversial elections that are, of course, set to sweep hard line conservatives into the country's parliament, a parliament that has been dominated for the past four years by reform-minded politicians. Those politicians, those reformists, at least most of them, have been barred from standing in these elections by the country's hardline leadership, hardline conservative leadership. Others have chosen to boycott the elections in protest. But voter turnout has been one of the key issues, simply because the hard liners face no real opposition in most areas.

What the reformist leaders are saying if there is a low turnout, then that will be some kind of protest, and therefore, a small moral victory at least for them. But as I say, we're waiting to see what the final official count will be. The ballot boxes are closed now. They closed at 10:00 here local time, four hours after they were supposed to close. The authorities doing their utmost to ensure as many people who wanted to vote to get to the polling stations and do that. We're waiting to see what the official figure of turnout will be -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Matthew, two quick questions. Number one, are there international observers? And, No. 2, how is it going to be this is a legitimate count on the voter turnout? And will reformists have faith in that number that the government gives them?

CHANCE: Well, first of all, on the international observers, there aren't any here in short. But there are Iranian observers here from across the political spectrum have been monitoring that the vote in it's actual process is free and fair. But the real controversy has been the exclusion of so many reformist candidates and the fact that the hardliners have been unopposed.

Will the actual tally be legitimate? Well, we'll have to see about that, too. Certainly not in the eyes of the reformists, who say that this vote is not fair, simply because they've been excluded. There's also the issue of whether people have been intimidated into voting, those that have voted. It's certainly true to say that people here are -- get a stamp in their passports when they go to the polling stations, a stamp which can ease their way through certain bureaucratic leapholes in this country. Whether that was a factor in the minds of people who actually went to vote, That's unclear -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: CNN's Matthew Chance live from Tehran, following the elections there. Thanks so much, Matthew.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com