Delator
13-01-2007, 21:12
I can't seem to verify this story...BBC and CNN don't have anything on it yet, but there's one report, at least.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, has passed into law a parliament bill that raises the voting age in national elections from 15 to 18, state-run television reported Saturday.
The law came into effect immediately, state TV said. Iranians as young as 15-year-old had previously been allowed to vote in some local elections.
The new law bars from voting many of the youths who cast their ballot in local elections last month, when hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered humiliating defeat. The next legislative elections are due in February 2008, and presidential ones in 2009.
"The Guardian Council approved into law a parliamentary legislation increasing the voting age from 15 to 18," Council spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei was quoted as saying by state television.
The Guardian Council is a powerful oversight body dominated by hard-line clerics that must approve all parliamentary legislation to become law.
Kadkhodaei said the council approved the bill on Wednesday, a day after parliament had passed the bill.
It was not immediately clear whether the law would also apply to local council elections or vote for the Assembly of Experts, a supervisory body.
Ahmadinejad's government had said it opposed the bill, fearing that banning youth from voting would make it unpopular. More than half of Iran's 70 million population is below 30.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-13-iran-voting-age_x.htm?csp=24
Hmm...I wonder what is afoot in Iran?
Both Conservatives and Liberals use moderate young Iranians as a point in their arguments regarding Iran, although for different reasons.
What does this move mean?
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, has passed into law a parliament bill that raises the voting age in national elections from 15 to 18, state-run television reported Saturday.
The law came into effect immediately, state TV said. Iranians as young as 15-year-old had previously been allowed to vote in some local elections.
The new law bars from voting many of the youths who cast their ballot in local elections last month, when hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered humiliating defeat. The next legislative elections are due in February 2008, and presidential ones in 2009.
"The Guardian Council approved into law a parliamentary legislation increasing the voting age from 15 to 18," Council spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei was quoted as saying by state television.
The Guardian Council is a powerful oversight body dominated by hard-line clerics that must approve all parliamentary legislation to become law.
Kadkhodaei said the council approved the bill on Wednesday, a day after parliament had passed the bill.
It was not immediately clear whether the law would also apply to local council elections or vote for the Assembly of Experts, a supervisory body.
Ahmadinejad's government had said it opposed the bill, fearing that banning youth from voting would make it unpopular. More than half of Iran's 70 million population is below 30.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-13-iran-voting-age_x.htm?csp=24
Hmm...I wonder what is afoot in Iran?
Both Conservatives and Liberals use moderate young Iranians as a point in their arguments regarding Iran, although for different reasons.
What does this move mean?