TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The head of Iran's Interior Ministry said, as polls opened across the country Friday, his department would protect the integrity of the public's votes.
Voting began Friday for the country's 4th Assembly of Experts, the 3rd local councils and the second by-elections of the 7th Majlis, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.
Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi pledged to the public that the ministry would safeguard the votes.
"The Interior Ministry will do its utmost to hold calm, free and smooth elections," he said.
More than 46 million people are eligible to vote for the Assembly of Experts and more than 43 million are qualified to vote in City and Village Council elections, said Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, head of Iran's elections headquarters.
Majlis speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said every vote cast would be a sign of allegiance to Islam, Islamic revolution and leadership and a rejection of interference in the country by the United States.
"The vote of anybody who goes to polls today, irrespective of whom they vote for, marks a 'no' answer to the U.S.," he said.
