People and Power - The Iranian Campaign

Farideh Farhi

People and Power is the name of the documentary made by Kouross Esmaeili about the Majles elections that just took place in Iran. It was apparently shown on Aljazeera but you can find its Part I and Part II on youtube. I think it is a well done documentary, showing aspects of Iranian politics not usually seen in the Western media. Interviews are done with candidates in Tehran from different political inclinations (conservative, independent conservative, and reformist). You can also listen to the arguments these candidates use to talk to their constituents and the impact US threats of military action against Iran has on these arguments.

Just in case you are interested, among the candidates shown in this documentary only the conservative candidate (Hamid Rassai) made it to the parliament. But he made it only in the second round and with mere 270,000 votes. In the first round in which 1.9 million people voted he was not able to receive the necessary 25 percent of the ballots cast. In the second round, however, only 730,000 people voted in the city of Tehran, allowing him to garner the necessary numbers to be among the top vote getters. According to the interior minister the number of eligible voters in Tehran is about 5.2 million people (others have said it is about 6.4 million). So Rassai managed to make it to the parliament with about 5 percent or less of the total number of eligible voters in Tehran. Low voter turnout in Tehran in fact helped conservative candidates gain 29 of the 30 seats in the capital. But Mohammad Ali Ramin, Ahmadinejad's close confidante, received only 15,000 votes in the first round and never made it to the second round. Read more on this article...