Senior Lawmaker Praises Intelligence Ministry for Full Security in Friday Elections

A senior Iranian legislator appreciated the intelligence ministry forces for their vigilance and efforts to establish thorough security in the country during the Friday elections.

“The intelligence ministry acted strongly and efficiently in providing the security for the elections,” Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said Saturday.

He stressed that the intelligence ministry has been encountering crisis points very vigilantly in the last few months, and added, “Fortunately, the security forces have had full control over the situation in the country and didn’t allow the terrorists to embark on acts of sabotage.”

Naqavi Hosseini also lauded the police forces, as the protector of law and order in the society, for protecting the ballot boxes and polling centers.

The 11th presidential and the 4th city and village councils elections were held at some 66,285 polling stations in Iran and 96 other world countries on Friday.

Polling was heavy since the very beginning. Reports from various media outlets said Friday morning that large numbers of people had queued behind closed doors before polling stations opened.

Thousands of additional ballot papers were sent to various Iranian cities after local electoral authorities from different constituencies across the country asked the Interior Ministry to send them more papers due to the unexpectedly large public turnout.
Observers said turnout among the electorate was 75 percent.

Foreign reporters and journalists covering the elections were astounded to see large crowds standing in long queues at polling stations.

Partial vote count is giving Hassan Rouhani a wider lead in the presidential race, Iran’s interior minister announced Saturday afternoon.