Low turn-out at poll

Press, 4 December 1979, Page 8

Low turn-out at poll

NZPA-Reuter Teheran Voting in a referendum on Iran’s new constitution has entered its final stage, amid signs that the authorities are worried at the possibility of a low turn-out despite mass support for the Governmentbacked student occupation of the United States Embassy in Teheran.

The State radio has broadcast a commentary before several news bulletins urging people not to forget the referendum, and linking the constitution, which gives sweeping powers to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny, with the anti-American campaign that has swept Iran.

“You must shoulder your responsibilities at a time when the Imam (Ayatollah Khomeiny). the ■ students (holding ' 50 American hostages) and other militants have started fighting against

imperialism,” the commentary said. “Don’t forget the referendum. It is a religious duty,” it said. Reports from all over Iran on the first day of voting showed a very low turn-out in the outlying provinces and only a moderate .showing in Teheran, but occasional examples of a mass vote such .as in the holy city of Qom, where Ayatollah Khomeiny was mobbed by supporters when he went to cast his affirmative vote. The official Pars news agency reported an overwhelming “yes” from the 400 radical students at the embassy whose occupation has entered its second month. The referendum came to the students. Voting officials brought a ballot box to the embassy compound to let the students vote. Sporadic violence, demonstrations, and confusion

marked the voting in the country’s outlying provinces, where'most of the turbulent ethnic and relegious minorities live. In the south-eastern province of Baluchistan, local leaders reported a widespread boycott of the poll by the local population, most of whom belong to Iran’s Sunni Muslim minority. In Tabriz, north-western Tran, about 70.000 Azerbaijani followers of Iran’s sec-ond-highest religious leader, Ayatollah Kazem ShariatMadari. took to the streets to urge a boycott in response to a machine-gun attack on their political party’s Tabriz office. Ayatollah Shariat-Madari. on the liberal wing of the ruling clergy, hinted that he thought the text gave Ayatollah Khomeiny dictatorial powers comparable with those enjoyed by the deposed Shah.