This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iranian-reformists-set-to-win-all-tehran-parliamentary-seats/2016/02/28/7fbf0d9a-ddef-11e5-8210-f0bd8de915f6_story.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Reformists to win all seats in Iran’s capital Iranian reformists winning all capital seats in parliament
(about 9 hours later)
TEHRAN, Iran — Partial results released Sunday indicate that Iranian reformists will win all 30 parliamentary seats contested in the capital, Tehran, handing hard-liners an embarrassing defeat in the first elections held since last year’s nuclear deal, which appears to be propelling moderates to their best nationwide electoral showing in more than a decade. TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian reformists appear have won all 30 seats representing the nation’s capital in parliament, a definitive rebuke to the hard-liners opposing President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to increase economic openness and cooperate with the West.
The deal is expected to bolster moderate allies of President Hassan Rouhani, who championed it in the face of hard-line opposition. However, none of Iran’s three main political camps -- reformists, conservatives or hard-liners -- is expected to win a majority in the 290-seat assembly. In the first elections held since last year’s nuclear deal, none of Iran’s three main political camps — reformists, conservatives and hard-liners — is expected to win an outright majority, but early results indicate the best reformist showing in the 290-seat parliament in more than a decade.
State TV said Sunday that reformists -- who favor expanding social freedoms and improving relations with the West -- are set to win all of Tehran’s seats. It said 62 percent of the capital’s votes have been counted. Moderate conservatives also gained seats, and if their tentative coalition with the reformists holds, they could end the domination of parliament by hard-liners opposed to the nuclear deal. The reformist gains reflect strong public support for the agreement’s promise of more economic opportunities now that the West has dropped crippling sanctions in exchange for limiting the nation’s nuclear program.
Tehran is seen as a political bellwether where prominent members of all three camps face off against each other. Across the country, the reformist camp is on track for its best showing in more than a decade. State television said Friday’s vote heralds “the end of the presence of a powerful majority in the parliament that overshadowed decision-making apparatus in the country over the past decade.”
The final results from the elections are expected on Monday. Rouhani thanked voters Saturday night in a message that encouraged Iranians to help him end the nation’s isolation.
Friday’s election was the first since last summer’s nuclear deal, which brought about the lifting of crippling international sanctions on Iran in exchange for it curbing its nuclear activities. “The competition has ended. Now it is time to open a new way through unity between people and the government to have a new chapter in growth of the national economy by using domestic strength and foreign opportunities,” he said.
Reformists and moderate conservatives — who supported the agreement -- appear poised to win a majority, which could pave the way for increased economic openness and greater cooperation with the West on regional issues like the war against the Islamic State group. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, called the vote “proof of democracy” at work in Iran.
Reformists currently hold fewer than 20 seats and have been virtually shut out of politics since losing their parliamentary majority in the 2004 elections. But Khamenei also addressed hard-line concerns that greater integration with the West could undermine Iranian independence and morality. He urged the next parliament, which begins its work in May, to remain vigilant against “foreign intervention” and warned that democratic progress does not mean “integration into the global arrogance.”
Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. Over the next eight years, he aggressively expanded the nuclear program, which Tehran insists is entirely peaceful, and alarmed Western countries by casting doubt on the scale of the Holocaust and predicting Israel would one day be wiped off the map. The Interior Ministry is expected to release final results on Monday. Provincial reports suggest that of the first 185 districts reporting, 55 have gone to reformists, 66 to moderate conservatives and 64 to hard-liners.
Nearly 55 million of Iran’s 80 million people were eligible to vote. Participation figures were not immediately available, but Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli on Saturday said turnout likely exceeded 60 percent based on the partial counting of the votes. Reformists hold fewer than 20 seats in the outgoing parliament and have been virtually shut out of politics since losing their parliamentary majority in the 2004 elections. Nearly 55 million of Iran’s 80 million people were eligible to vote, and more than 60 percent turned out, based on partial results.
Iranians also elected a new Assembly of Experts, 88 senior clerics whose most important role is to select a new supreme leader from among its members. The assembly is elected every eight years and could be asked to choose a successor to Khamenei, 76, who had prostate surgery in 2014.
Mehrnaz Hemmati, a 21-year-old tailor shop worker, said she voted for the coalition of reformists and moderates — and won’t celebrate until the final results are announced.
“I expect more attention to be paid to job opportunities for women,” Hemmati said. “Rouhani, with help from the new parliament, should open doors to the world to bring in foreign investments.”
Mohammad Reza Shahabi, an accountant in a construction company, hopes that with hard-liners losing some influence, “the government will have a more free hand in implementing deals with the world from now on. The elections should add to Rouhani’s power, since new lawmakers will not create barriers like before,” he said.
But Aida Ghorbani, an employee at an advertising and public relations firm, doubts the ability of the larger reformist bloc to have much impact.
“Based on experience, they cannot take big steps because of the greater influence of hard-liners in the government, however I feel happy,” she said.
___
Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat contributed to this report.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.