The Study of Trend of the Contribution of Kurdistan Province Citizens in the Presidential Elections from 1997 to 2005

Political participation as a key factor of political development has many facets which can help political systems achieve a favorable situation vis-à-vis its proximity to democracy. In this regard, the political participation as a dependent variable is often influenced by a number of factors. The structure of political system, existence of different ethnic groups and diverse identities in a country as well as socio-economic and cultural issues are among the factors that have significant effects on the increment or decrement of political participation by citizens there. The present paper tries to study the reasons of increasing political participation of Iranian citizens in the province of Kordestan during 1997-2005. Utmost, the results show that economic factors, media, civil and political rights, changes in the country’s political atmosphere and similarly political transition in Iraqi Kurdistan have been influential on the decreasing trend of peoples’ participation in Iran’s Kordestan region. In this research, the most effective internal factor has been the hope to political changes in the country during the proposed period of study. At the same time, the most effective external factor has been the political transitions in Iraqi Kurdish region and their important outcomes under the framework of Iraq.