TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- Rajab Rahmani, a member of the Majlis minority faction, said here Friday that lectures and slogans are not enough to encourage people to vote in the seventh parliamentary elections and cannot boost voter turnout.

Rahmani, a deputy representing Takestan, told the Mehr News Agency that the problems facing the nation must be promptly dealt with, saying this is of the utmost importance.

“Now that the anti-Iranian plan of the global arrogance has entered a new phase, national unity should be enhanced with the help of people’s participation,” he said.

The Majlis deputy criticized the reformists’ actions in recent years, stating that voter turnout is not a demonstration of action since the people have certain expectations of the individuals and groups they vote for.

“However, the reformists only carried out their politicized actions instead of satisfying people’s demands and have always blamed others for the prevailing problems,” he said.

Rahmani stated that the low voter turnout in the most recent local council elections was a sign of the reformists’ failure to appeal to the nation and encourage participation.

But, despite the problems and disappointments, the Iranian nation has always attended to national affairs at critical times, he said.

Rahmani added that disqualifications by the Guardian Council have no effect on people’s participation in the elections.

“The council elections were held without Guardian Council supervision, yet people did not seriously participate, and this showed that the reformists failed to attract the people,” he said.

Rahmani added that according to the Constitution, monitoring the elections is the duty of the Guardian Council and a number of supervising boards, created within the framework of the Constitution, will take on this responsibility during future elections.

“If the election officials want a free and healthy election they have to welcome the supervision of the Guardian Council,” he said.

The Majlis deputy stated that the people’s political insight has grown, and it is their votes that will decide the outcome of the seventh Majlis elections, adding that people recognize their true servants.

Rahmani said that the Iranian nation is duty-bound to defend the Islamic system and predicted that there would be high voter turnout for the seventh Majlis elections.