TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – MP Mohsen Torkashvand said here on Monday that Iran should try to encourage high voter turnout in the upcoming elections, stressing that public participation in the country's political affairs reduces foreign threats.

Torkashvand told the Mehr News Agency that Iran must also try to prevent the formation of an international consensus against it by considering the prevailing conditions in the world.

He warned that certain countries "are doing their best" to find a pretext against Iran to promote that consensus.

"People's satisfaction with officials and the system and their participation in the upcoming elections can be regarded as good support of the government and system," said Torkashvand, who is also a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. "Some measures should be adopted for the next elections in order to eliminate discord between the government and the nation."

The MP representing Toyserkan added that there was high voter turnout for the sixth Majlis elections, but regretfully such participation was not repeated in the second local council elections.

Iran is located in an internationally sensitive region between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf which holds about 60 percent of the world's oil reserves.