Why not voting means different things in Tehran and New York City
Why did less than 25% turnout in last month’s elections?
By Kian Tajbakhsh | July 16, 2021
Part of CGT Member Tajbakhsh’s blog Tales of My Two Cities, exploring urbanism and politics in his two hometowns, New York and Tehran.
Excerpt:
Last month my two hometowns held local elections. New Yorkers voted in closed primaries for a range of offices with the mayor’s office at the top of the ballot; Tehranis voted for president and other national offices as well as 21 at-large city council seats (Iranian Mayors are appointed). In spite of the fact that almost every commentator and pundit in both countries insisted these were very consequential elections, less than a quarter of the eligible voting population turned out to vote for both of them. (In the chart I have included the regional and national figures for Iran to illustrate that Tehran City turnout was exceptionally low.)