(28 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baghdad, Iraq – 28 June 2024
1. Various of Iranian election officials inside polling center, Iranians registering to vote
2. Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, casting his ballot
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq:
"In Iraq, we have six electoral centers in all our consulates, in Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Basra. Voting can be made by both Iranian residents (in Iraq) and visitors to the holy shrines."
4. Iranian flag on poster
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khadija Kareem, Iranian Voter:
"Today we came to participate in the presidential elections of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. We participate in these elections with pride and God willing, hope for a great victory and when America and Israel will watch (these elections) will fail in everything (defeated)."
6. Various of voters writing on ballots
7. Various of voter casting his vote
8. Various exterior of the Iranian embassy, group of Iranian women voters entering embassy to cast their vote
STORYLINE:
Iranians living or visiting Iraq began voting on Friday morning in the capital Baghdad and other cities in a snap election to replace the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash last month.
Dozens of Iranians cast their ballots at Iran’s embassy in Baghdad, including Ambassador Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh.
"In Iraq, we have six electoral centers in all our consulates, in Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Basra," Al-Sadegh said.
Public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East.
The voting on Friday follows the May helicopter crash that killed Raisi, the foreign minister and several other officials.
Analysts broadly describe the race as a three-way contest, with two hard-liners — a former nuclear negotiator and the Iranian parliament speaker.
The sole reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, has aligned himself with those who had supported Tehran’s efforts to reach the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
While Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend Iran toward confrontation or negotiations with the West.
The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30.
AP video shot by Ali Jabar
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