A political analyst tells Press TV that Iranâ„¢s voter turnout excels that of the US, praising the mass participation of Iranians in the 11th presidential election as outstanding.
On Friday, millions of Iranian voters headed for polling stations to cast their ballots and choose the countryâ„¢s 11th president as well as their representatives in the city and village councils.
Å“It is excellent; it is beyond anything we see in presidential elections in America; wish we had the same thing here. There has been excitement for days,” Paul Sheldon Foote, professor at California State University, said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.
The commentator said that voter turnout in the presidential election in the United States was around 50 percent while it dropped down significantly in other elections.
He said that ignorance and the belief that the two Democratic and Republican parties acted in the same way accounted for Americansâ„¢ unwillingness to take part in elections.
Comparing elections in the US and Iran in terms of democracy, he said that Americans have a small number of media networks that have the power to Å“limit who can speak.”
Å“We claim we have freedom of speech; it is true that you can post anything you want on the Internet but a small number of people are going to see it,” the analyst added.
Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to vote in the June 14 elections.
The voter turnout in Iranâ„¢s 11th presidential election has been around 72.7 percent, according to informed sources.
AR/HGH
This article originally appeared on: Press TV