Iran’s Election Headquarters on Monday announced the latest results of the vote count showing allies of Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani have won a landslide victory in Tehran, in the first parliamentary vote since Iran signed a nuclear deal with world powers. With 90 per cent of the votes counted, the pro-Rouhani List of Hope is set to take all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital Tehran.
The leading conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad-Adel is in 31st place. Millions voted on Friday to elect the 290-seat parliament as well as members of the Assembly of Experts. The 88-member assembly appoints Iran’s Supreme Leader and might end up choosing a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, who is 76 years old and has suffered ill-health.
Early results gave former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a moderate conservative, and Iran’s reformist President Hassan Rouhani the most votes for the assembly. It is the first time Iranians have gone to the poll since last years landmark nuclear deal and the lifting of international sanctions. The parliamentary result in Tehran is significant because lawmakers from the capital usually determine the political direction of the house.
But with a mixed vote outside the capital neither the reformist or hardliners are likely to have overall control of parliament. Final results from Friday’s vote are expected today. Meanwhile, a leading Iranian cleric Sadeq Larijani has accused reformists of colluding with the West to block hardline appointments to the country’s Assembly of Experts.