Ministry of Interior: More than 260,000 people are responsible for providing election security
The deputy security officer for Iran's Interior Ministry says that "more than 260,000 people" will be responsible for providing security for the upcoming presidential elections, and the necessary "auxiliary forces" have also been provided through Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hossein Zolfaghari, deputy head of security and law enforcement at the Iranian Ministry of Interior, said on the evening of May 11 that "all military, intelligence, law enforcement, judicial, and Iranian Broadcasting institutions" are present in the election security headquarters.
According to this government official, "security and law enforcement plans were prepared specifically by the law enforcement forces," while "based on the investigations conducted at the Security Headquarters, the auxiliary forces that were needed to assist the law enforcement forces in securing polling stations were provided by the Revolutionary Guards through the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces."
The total number of eligible voters in next week's election is estimated at 55 million, and there are about 63,500 polling stations. In the 2013 presidential election, the number of forces involved in providing security was stated to be 300,000. For example, the security of the recent presidential election in France was provided by 50,000 police officers. France currently has 47 million citizens eligible to vote. The 2014 Afghan presidential election was also held with the presence of 400,000 army and police forces.
In his remarks, Mr. Zolfaghari emphasized that so far, “there has been no specific incident that would disrupt the security of the elections.” He also said that as the election approaches, “we will have to tighten security from the borders to the interior of the country.” According to this Interior Ministry official, the Iranian judiciary is to appoint a special judge to ensure that “no legal problems arise when checkpoints are set up by the IRGC, Basij, and police forces.”
Mr. Zulfiqari has said that the process of ensuring election security will be "strengthened" starting next week.
The 12th round of Iran's presidential elections will be held on May 19.
In another part of his press conference, the deputy security officer of the Iranian Ministry of Interior said that cyberspace is "monitored daily" and "predictions" have been made about "specific trends and groups that may have plans."
He did not provide further explanation about these "specific currents and groups."
In early May, a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said in connection with the presidential election, “cyberspace is being fully monitored.” Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri recently said, “The enemy is trying to question the elections through cyberspace and is spreading false information.”
Iranian officials have repeatedly warned about what they describe as “movements” in cyberspace or the media, and their “dangers” to Iran’s national security. In recent years, these “warnings” have typically increased as election time approaches.
On the other hand, Iran has been at the top of the list of internet “censors” in the world for years, and civil liberties organizations have repeatedly criticized the country’s cyberspace filtering. Iran is also among the countries described as the “largest” prison for journalists in the world.
Source: Radio Farda
