Something Is Happening Outside Iran, Too

The Guardian's David Shariatmadari, who is half Iranian, writes about casting his vote in Maida Vale, west London:

It had never occurred to me that I might be able to vote in the Iranian elections. My dual nationality had always seemed like a practical arrangement: as the son of an Iranian man, I can't travel to Iran on my British passport. So, in my early 20s, and planning my first visit there, I had to apply for Iranian one. It took more than a year, and I resented the fact that so many obstacles were put in the way of a simple trip to see my uncle and aunts, the town my dad grew up in, my grandfather's grave. But it turns out there's something the Iranian state has given me in return for all the hassle: a vote.

When I called the embassy a couple of weeks ago, expecting the standard bureaucratic rebuff, I was told I could attend any one of 5 polling stations in London (out of 15 in the UK as a whole). Such is the store the Islamic Republic puts in patrilineage (the children of Iranian women and their non-Iranian partners are not entitled to citizenship). It felt strange to think that I could influence the outcome of an election a country I've never lived in, but it's a privilege the authorities seem happy to dispense – 304 polling stations have been set up outside Iran, including 32 in the US. In any case, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity.

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