At the end of July 2021, Iran5050.com - claiming to be affiliated with the judiciary of Iran, published a comprehensive tabulation of Iran’s 2021 presidential elections. At that time, president-elect Ebrahim Raisi had still not resigned from his position as the head of Iran's judiciary. This dataset seems to have been heavily manipulated to portray a different story about the results of the June 2021 election. Most notably, the data shows a much higher voter turnout and much lower number of spoiled ballots than published official results, which were approved by the Guardian Council...

Learn about the nots and bolts of Iran elections via "Nabz Elections Central 2021." See how the Iranian elections work; What voters should think about? and how citizens can promote accountability. 

When people think about elections, they mostly focus on voting. While election day is certainly a critical component, it is important to view elections as a long-term “cycle” in which the periods before and after the election equally contribute to the credibility of the process. For example in the pre-election period, if a candidate engages in widespread vote buying or if the election management body fails to educate voters, the overall integrity of the election is compromised.

Additionally, because elections are increasingly subject to international scrutiny, political actors seeking to manipulate election outcomes often carry out violations before or after the voting takes place when fewer eyes are watching. For these reasons and more, it is crucial to watch for violations throughout the entire election cycle.

Government in Iran is based on a centralized system, but in order to encourage citizen participation, the law grants local entities certain levels of authority in decision-making, implementation, consultation, and oversight. The Interior Ministry is in charge of controlling and supervising the governance process at the local level. Major areas of governance including maintaining public order, education, water and energy, universities, healthcare, and culture continue to be administered directly from the center, although local entities do have the ability to influence its decisions.