Election of street vendor, sweeper to Iran city council raise eyebrows

A turnout of more than 70 percent caught everybody with surprise across the world, enhancing the prestige of the Islamic Republic as a nation with big public support.
In Iran, however, in addition to the presidential election, what gave the people a bit of shock was when the results of the City and Village Councils were announced.

A street vendor and a street sweeper were chosen as city council members, in Khorramabad, west of Iran, and Rasht, in the northern part of the country, respectively.

Sixty-year-old, university graduate Valliollah Rostami Nejad, from Khorramabad, who has been working as a street vendor for along time was chosen to the city council while his electoral campaign lacked any kind of conventional methods used by his rivals to win votes; He only had a small banner to introduce himself, using a face-to-face method to approach and engage with people on the streets to tell them what he wants to do for the city as a council member.

“I want to serve the people, this is high on my agenda and I will make any sacrifice to serve the public,” Rostami Nejad said.

“If one is not capable of doing a job , he or she should quit it,” he said.

Forty-two-year old Mohammad Hassan Alipour was the other candidate of the City and Village Council election that raised eyebrows in the northern city of Rasht following election.

Holding a B.A. degree in Public Relations, Alipour has been elected as one of the 11 members of the city council.

He has been working as a street sweeper for the past 17 years, and similar to his colleague from Khorramabad, he has not splashed out right and left to win votes.

Alipour lives in a rented apartment with his wife and son.

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