Foreign Ministry Making All Preparations for Iranian Expats to Vote in Presidential Election
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said all the necessary preparations are being made to make sure Iranians living abroad can vote in the upcoming presidential election.
Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Wednesday that the supplies needed for voting, including election tariffs, have been sent to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassies and diplomatic missions all over the world.
He added that 133 diplomatic missions of the country and 234 polling stations abroad are ready for Iranian expats to vote in the election.
According to Khatibzadeh, the election will not be held only in three countries, namely Singapore, Yemen and Canada.
Iran is holding its 13th presidential election on Friday, June 18. Three candidates have dropped out of the race, but four others are still running. Over 59.3 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the election, according to the Interior Ministry.
Last week, Iran’s election authority said the Ottawa government has not allowed the setting up of polling stations in Canada in order for Iranian expats to participate in the presidential election, in breach of international norms.
Esmail Mousavi, spokesman of the Interior Ministry’s Election Committee, said Friday that Iran had raised the issue of voting facilities for expats with Canada through its Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi.
Upon a request by Ottawa’s UN envoy, the Iranian Foreign Ministry submitted a relevant to the Swiss Embassy, which hosts Canada’s interests section in the Islamic Republic, but “unfortunately, no due response has so far been received from the Canadian government on the possibility of direct voting in the election.”
“Given the limited amount of time left and a lack of possibility for the Foreign Ministry to dispatch executive officials [to Canada], direct voting is not possible (there) for the time being,” the election official said.
He said the Foreign Ministry is currently making efforts to set the stage for the Iranians in Canada to take part in the election.
On the back of coordination between the Foreign Ministry and Iran’s interests section in Washington, preparations have been made to enable the Iranians in Canada to cast their votes in an American city bordering Canadian soil, Mousavi added.
