Iranians vote in first parliament elections since nuke deal

Whatever the outcome, though, Iran’s political system places significant power in the hands of the Supreme Leader, who heads a conservative establishment including the Guardian Council, the judiciary, the Revolutionary Guards and state media.

Khamenei is 76, and unconfirmed rumors have swirled in recent years about his health. Voters will also select 88 clerics to the Assembly of Experts, who serve eight-year terms.

Asked whether he knew the names of the 30 parliamentary candidates who he was about to choose, the man replied: “I know some names, yes”.

“We need to open the doors of our country to the world”, said Atefeh Jaberi, a 45-year-old writer, outside Hosseiniye Ershad, a religious institute in north Tehran, who was backing Rouhani’s allies. Iranians across the Islamic Republic…

People in Iran also voted for the country’s parliament, which is a body of 290 members who are responsible for passing legislation in the country, approving the annual budget and worldwide agreements.

Although Iran’s foreign policy is dictated by Khamenei, the outgoing conservative-dominated parliament strongly opposed making any meaningful concessions to the West during the nuclear negotiations and some lawmakers called Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif a “a traitor”.

Under Iran’s constitution, a transitional “leadership council” is permitted until a supreme leader is selected by the assembly.

This is the most prominent grouping of hard-liners.

The pro-Rouhani List of Hope is headed by Mohammad Reza Aref, a former vice president in the 1997-2005 two-term government of reformist president Mohammad Khatami.

The first results are expected to come from the provinces, but the vote tally in the capital, which has a population of 12 million and was electing 30 lawmakers, will take around three days.

This year, reformists have united with moderates within a bloc called the Alliance Of Reformists And Government Supporters in hopes of more effectively challenging their rivals.

“Elections are always important but in certain junctures they have more importance”, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Reformists claimed they were the worst hit by electoral bans as thousands of candidates were barred from participating.

After voting in Tehran, the country’s 67-year-old president pledged to protect the integrity of the elections as “a mark of trust”.

“Whoever comes out [as the winner], either in parliament or the Assembly of Experts, with votes of the people, will be respected by us, and everyone will respect the votes of the majority of the people”, Rohani said, after casting his vote.

However, Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG), says that, by disqualifying the vast majority of reformist candidates, the Guardians Council vetting candidates for all of Iran’s elections might have essentially precluded a reformist comeback.

Millions of Iranians are heading to the polls on Friday to vote in the first two key elections since world powers and Iran agreed to a nuclear deal.

A more supportive parliament would allow Rouhani to continue his economic reforms at home and diplomatic engagement overseas.

President Rouhani has recently talked of the “JCPOA 2.0”, a reference to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, by which he apparently means national reconciliation among the different factions of people, especially critics of the government and those upset by the bitter developments that followed the 2009 presidential election.

No official results were released overnight, state television said in its morning news bulletin.