Iran reformists dominate Tehran voting: initial results

President Hassan Rouhani and his allies won 15 out of the 16 Tehran seats in the Assembly of Experts, final election results published on Monday showed, ousting two prominent hardliners including the speaker of the powerful clerical body.

A pro-Rouhani alliance of reformists clinched 29 out of 30 seats up for grabs in capital Tehran, initial results indicated on Sunday.

The leading conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad-Adel is in 31st place.

Moderate candidates also did well in Iran’s other election, for the Assembly of Experts, which will someday choose the next Supreme Leader of Iran.

Millions crowded polling stations Friday to vote for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which selects the country’s highest authority, the supreme leader.

Given these stakes, it would seem that Iranians have overwhelmingly displayed their confidence in the presidency of Rouhani as his reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic Republic’s emergence from years of isolation.

Friday’s twin elections for parliament and the clerical assembly were the first to be held in Iran since it struck a landmark nuclear deal with world powers previous year that brought about the lifting of crippling worldwide sanctions. But a Reuters tally, based on official but partial results, also showed independents winning 44 seats, reformists 79, and hardliners 106 in the 290-seat parliament.

Iran has dozens of political groupings and organizations, but no major, longstanding parties like in the West. Broadly speaking, the election is a showdown between hard-liners in one camp, and relative moderates supporting Rouhani and reformists on the other. Furthermore, in the Assembly of Experts, Rouhani and his ally former president Hashemi Rafsanjani lead the winners. The assembly, which appoints Iran’s Supreme leader, is likely to name the successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, who is 76 and is suffering poor health.

Both Rouhani and Rafsanjani now sit in the assembly, which is elected every eight years and at present includes around 20 moderates.

The Interior Ministry said final results will be declared Tuesday.

Whatever the outcome, Iran’s political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment, including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament.