Reformists leading in Iran parliament vote

The nuclear deal has been the centerpiece of Rouhani’s 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.

Polls closed at 10pm except in Tehran after repeated extensions had been announced to deal with queues outside polling stations.

Khamenei, who is the Islamic republic’s ultimate authority, was among the first to vote and he urged the country’s 55-million-strong electorate to follow suit, as “it’s both a duty and a right”. On social media, people are sharing clips of hard-liners in Parliament speaking out against the nuclear deal that Iran sealed with the Western powers this year, saying, “Let’s get rid of these guys”.

Khomeini, the 43-year-old cleric and grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founding Supreme Leader has close ties to Iran’s centrist and reformist camps and has been pitched as a contender for becoming Iran’s next Supreme Leader.

Iranian nuclear activities that could be turned into making weapons have remained at agreed reduced levels since a deal between Tehran and six world powers was implemented last month, a United Nations agency reported Friday. Lawmakers serve four-year terms.

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an assembly member, broke a taboo on speaking about the supreme leader’s successor in December when he said that a committee within the assembly has begun putting together a list of possible successors to Khamenei.

Khamenei smiled warmly as he presented his identity documents to electoral officials before receiving his ballot paper which he posted in a sealed box.

An Iranian woman votes in the parliamentary and Experts Assembly elections at a polling station in Qom, 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016.

Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based political analyst, agreed that “there are powers that are bigger and more important that are outside the Assembly” that will have a much larger say on who the next supreme leader is.

“We need a more open society because we suffered a lot during the eight years of Ahmadinejad”, said Hamid, a mechanic.

The run-up to polling day was largely overshadowed by controversies over who was allowed to stand. Thousands of candidates were excluded.

This is the most prominent grouping of hard-liners.

The election for the Assembly of Experts, however, is far less competitive.

Iran’s theocratic system vests the Assembly of Experts with the power to pick and dismiss the supreme leader, who has the last word on religious and political affairs. A clear outcome may take days to emerge, although conservatives normally perform well in rural areas and young urbanites are seen as favoring more moderate candidates allied to President Hassan Rouhani.

“What we’re seeing is probably the most significant attempt [to win seats] since the repression of the reformists since the early years of the 21st century”, says Lucas, who adds that many reformists regret their previous decisions to boycott. During the race, former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel stressed his concerns over the wave of foreign companies entering Iran.