General Elections, 1 March 2024

Floods, February–March 2024 

Starting on 27 February 2024 heavy rainfall, strong winds, thunderstorms and flash flooding wreaked havoc across Iran’s eastern provinces (European Commission 2024). Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces received red flash flood warnings, with 15 others receiving orange warnings (Iran Wire 2024). After weeks of continuous floods in eastern Iran, 110 roads were blocked resulting in the isolation of 46 villages; 31 villages also faced water shortages (Iran International 2024; Iran Wire 2024).  

The extended rainfall was largely triggered by the El Niño event, with only equivocal evidence that human induced climate change contributed – unlike its clearer role in Iran’s droughts (WWA 2023; WWA 2024).   

By 6 March 2024 the flood had impacted 63,343 people, destroying 300 homes and damaging a further 3,100 (Iran International 2024; IFRC 2024). The Iranian government was accused of responding with inadequate emergency relief and ‘abandoning’ flood victims for other priorities; relief was also complicated—according to the ICRC—by stranded victims’ reluctance to leave their homes (Iran International 2024).  

Impact on the electoral process  

Iranian Parliament and Assembly of Experts elections were held on 1 March 2024 (Reuters 2024). Chabahar city in Sistan and Baluchistan province faced difficult flood conditions, both in its urban and rural electoral districts. In a statement reported by the state news agency, the deputy mayor stated that transport assistance would be arranged to facilitate voter participation (IRNA 2024).  

1 March 2024 marked Iran’s 12^th parliamentary election since the 1979 revolution. It had the lowest voter-turnout rate of 40.64 per cent, which compared with 42.32 per cent in the last parliamentary election in 2020 (International IDEA, n.d.; International Crisis Group 2024).