Iran conducts 'grossly unfair' election amid sanctions and threat of war

Tehran's attempt to portray vote - from which opposition was banned - as sign of unity derided by Human Rights Watch

Iran's opposition, crushed in recent years and banned from running in the elections, largely called for a countrywide boycott of the vote. Many activists sympathetic to the Green movement took to social networking websites to urge Iranians to embarrass the regime by staying at home. Some even distributed leaflets, reading "I won't vote". For the opposition it was a non-event, although some Iranian politicians affiliated to the opposition, including former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, participated in the vote. Some believe they were forced to.