Conservatives ahead as Iran poll results trickle in

Conservatives took an early lead Saturday as the first results of Iran's parliamentary election came in, boosted by a predicted low turnout following the disqualification of nearly half the candidates.

Friday's election followed months of steeply escalating tensions between Iran and its decades-old arch-foe the United States.

Voters had been widely expected to shun the polls, disillusioned by unfulfilled promises and struggling to cope in a country whose economy has buckled under harsh US sanctions.

About half of the 16,000-odd candidates were disqualified. Among them were many reformist and moderate candidates -- including dozens of sitting MPs -- leaving conservatives with virtually no competition.

By midday (0830 GMT) Saturday, votes had been counted in 71 constituencies out of 208, according to National Elections Committee figures reported by semi-official news agency ISNA.

Tehran is the biggest catch in the election with 30 seats.

The conservative and ultra-conservative alliance appeared to have a comfortable edge in the capital in early results, the committee's spokesman Esmail Mousavi said on state television.

Most votes went to the first three names on the alliance's list, he said.

Leading the race was Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a three-time presidential candidate, former police chief and member of the Revolutionary Guards who was Tehran mayor from 2005 to 2017.

Reformists and moderates hardly figured in the 37 other names of "leading Tehran candidates", Mousavi said.

Final results for both the capital and other provinces would be announced by early Sunday at the latest, he added.

If the results are confirmed, it will mean President Hassan Rouhani's slender majority of reformists and moderates elected with fanfare four years ago is nearly purged.

"A lot of people voted in the previous parliamentary election, but the enthusiasm faded away every day after that," Ali, a Tehran taxi driver, told AFP.

"And now there's nothing to be hopeful about to go and vote," added the 53-year-old, who abstained.

With official figures still coming in, news agencies close to conservatives and ultra-conservatives have predicted a landslide win for their candidates across Iran.

An unofficial tally published by Fars news agency said 183 of parliament's 290 seats had already been decided, with conservative candidates winning 135 of them.

Reformists were a distant second at 20, it said, adding independents had won 28 seats.

Fars tweeted that turnout in Tehran was 1.9 million out of more than nine million eligible voters.

Many in the capital seem to have sat out the election, including Arghavan Aram, who manages an NGO for transsexuals.

"An election with only one faction is not an election, it's a selection," she said.

But Aram appeared optimistic for a future where "Trump leaves, Democrats come to power alongside a moderate supreme leader" in Iran and things would change.

The state television website said that among 56 winners announced on Saturday, most were fresh faces and only 10 were former MPs.

The 11th parliamentary election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution comes after a surge in tensions between Tehran and Washington, and Iran's accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner that sparked anti-government protests.

Turnout was estimated at around 40 percent nationwide and 30 percent in Tehran at the scheduled close of polls on Friday, according to Fars.

But authorities extended polling for another six hours to allow as many people as possible to vote.

Fars said the official turnout figure would be released on Saturday, while official results are not expected to be announced until Sunday.

Schools were closed in dozens of urban centers on Saturday while the count went ahead.

Iran fell into a deep recession after US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions following Washington's unilateral withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal in 2018.

source: AFP