Elections at local chambers of commerce all across Iran ended on Saturday evening after 13 and a half hours of electronic voting in which two big coalitions won the majority of seats in Tehran and local chambers of commerce.
In the capital, all 40 candidates of a wide range of businessmen and women that ran under the Coalition for Future won all the 40 seats up for grabs at Tehran Chamber of Commerce while polls in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran were postponed over voting irregularities. A Chamber For All Coalition candidates grabbed majority of seats up for grabs across the remaining 32 chambers of commerce around the country.
The Coalition for Future, comprised of 40 business people that stood for representatives from commercial, industrial, mining and agricultural sectors, snatched away all the 40 seats up for grabs at Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA).
Coalition for Future candiadates pose following their victory at Tehran Chamber of Commerce elections
Masoud Khansari, the chamber’s ex-president, who had stood for Commerce representative, topped the list with 1,827 votes. Hale Hamedifar, pharmaceutical entrepreneur, stood at the top of the Industries representative with 1,495 votes.
Alauddin Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, who was recently commemorated as a philanthropist entrepreneur with over 70 years of charitable works, grabbed 1,630 votes to head the representatives of Mines sector. In the Agriculture sector, Iranian importer and exporter Ahmad Reza Farshchian, topped the list following 1,476 votes.
Alauddin Mir Mohammad Sadeghi addresses a ceremony that commemorated his charitable works at Iran Chamber of Commerce (Photo: Iran Chamber Newsroom, Bahareh Taghiabadi)
The race at this chamber was the tightest of all 34 chambers of commerce as 159 people were competing for only 40 seats. Representatives for another 20 seats of the TCCIMA will be chosen by the government.
1,427 candidates were competing to grab 535 seats in all local chambers. The polls all across the country were held electronically for the first time. Over 38,000 business people who have had an active membership card during the last 18 months were eligible to vote at the polls. More than 16,500 people cast their ballots, according to officials, that is nearly 43% participation.
In Tehran 23 percent of the voter-eligible members showed up at the polls with more than 3,400 people casting their votes.
The Coalition for Future also included seven telecommunication and tech firms managers, all of whom made their way into the ninth parliament of the private sector at Tehran Chamber of Commerce. Majid Hossein Nezhad, founder of giant online ticket reservation application Ali Baba, Sayyid Majid Sadri, CEO of Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) are among the most known tech activists that were chosen as new members of Tehran Chamber of Commerce. IT media have praised their election as a means to boost the country's emerging startup economy.
The eleted representatives will run local chambers during the next four years, that is until 2023.