Iran reformists performing well in early election results

In the simultaneous vote on Friday, Iranians will also select 88 senior religious figures of the Assembly of Experts, which is tasked with appointing the Leader and monitoring his performance.

The interior ministry said it had counted 25% of the results by Saturday morning, though a final tally is unlikely to be known before Monday.

Fryer, for his part, says the big turnout in Iran’s parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections indicates that “a lot of young people are voting, which is very important”. Reformists seeking greater democratic changes and better ties with the West appear to be heading toward their strongest presence in the 290-seat parliament since 2004. Women constitute about eight percent of the Parliament members in Iran.

In its first report since a deal with six world powers came into force in January, the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog confirmed that no additional construction work has been carried out on the Arak reactor, which could have produced plutonium as a byproduct if it had been operational. A political moderate, Rouhani is hoping an alliance with reformists can eliminate or at least curtail conservative dominance of parliament, giving him a chance of passing social and political reforms.

Counting is underway in Tehran province and some major provinces and cities, in some of which the election is likely to go to a second round.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both affiliated to hardliners, began publishing “unofficial lists of winners” claiming that conservatives had scored some early wins.

The steps taken by Iran under the 2015 deal extend to at least a year, up from a few months before the accord, the length of time Tehran would need to make one nuclear bomb’s worth of fissile material.

The nuclear deal has been the centerpiece of Rouhanis policies since he was elected in 2013 — and the sealing of the deal won Iran the lifting of most global sanctions against it. Throughout, he and the negotiating team had to push against hard-liner opposition.

In the capital Tehran, more than 1,000 candidates were competing for just 30 parliamentary seats.