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| Iran’s moderates cement election gains in setback for hard-liners | Iran’s moderates cement election gains in setback for hard-liners |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Iran’s conservatives took further blows on Monday as backers of moderate President Hassan Rouhani grabbed the biggest bloc in parliament, while officials said a prominent hard-line cleric was dropped from a panel that will pick the country’s next supreme leader. | |
| The near-final results from Friday’s twin elections appear to cement a surprising surge in favor of Rouhani and his supporters despite the disqualification of many pro-reform candidates by Iran’s election gatekeepers. | The near-final results from Friday’s twin elections appear to cement a surprising surge in favor of Rouhani and his supporters despite the disqualification of many pro-reform candidates by Iran’s election gatekeepers. |
| The parliamentary elections marked the latest test of strength between Iran’s conservative forces and Rouhani’s coalition, which seeks to ease the country’s international isolation. Last year, the Rouhani government carved out a landmark nuclear deal with world powers that led to a rolling back of sanctions. | |
| [Moderates make surprising stand] | [Moderates make surprising stand] |
| Moderate-leaning voters gave all 30 parliament seats in the capital, Tehran, to candidates thought to be aligned with Rouhani and his policies, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Interior Ministry vote tallies. | |
| Results from across the country indicate that pro-Rouhani candidates and others considered “moderate conservatives” — who broke ranks with hard-liners to back the nuclear deal — won a majority of seats in the 290-member parliament, according to the Associated Press. The two groups hold at least 158 seats, including 85 for Rouhani’s allies, the news agency said, citing state TV reports. | |
| That is a major swing from the profile of the outgoing parliament, which was a main forum for conservatives and others hostile to the nuclear deal. | |
| Runoff elections will be held for about 60 other seats, officials said. | |
| Hard-liners and others remain a significant voice in Iranian affairs, however, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, which controls all key military wings and programs such as missile development. Also, parliament’s role is limited, as every key decision remains in the hands of the ruling clerics, led by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. | |
| [Perils still remain for Iran’s reformers] | [Perils still remain for Iran’s reformers] |
| Khamenei’s approval was needed to move ahead with the nuclear accord, giving critical support to Rouhani. The surprising swell in favor of Rouhani in last week’s voting also could signal a show of solidarity from the streets against hard-liners before he faces reelection next year. | |
| Conservatives, who have questioned Rouhani’s overtures to the West, had been expected to have an easier path. | |
| About half of the candidates who registered to run were disqualified in pre-election vetting by the Guardian Council, a group loyal to the supreme leader that must clear all candidates in major Iranian elections. Pro-reform factions claimed that their allies accounted for the bulk of those blackballed from the ballots. | About half of the candidates who registered to run were disqualified in pre-election vetting by the Guardian Council, a group loyal to the supreme leader that must clear all candidates in major Iranian elections. Pro-reform factions claimed that their allies accounted for the bulk of those blackballed from the ballots. |
| [Iran’s Rouhani asks pope for prayers] | [Iran’s Rouhani asks pope for prayers] |
| In separate elections, moderates and potential allies took about two-thirds of the seats on the Assembly of Experts, according to the Interior Ministry. The 88-member panel’s main duty is to choose Khamenei’s successor after his death. | |
| Among those pushed aside was a high-ranking arch-conservative cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, who failed to retain his seat. | |
| Yazdi served as head of Iran’s judiciary between 1989 and 1999, a period that included crackdowns on perceived liberal writers, journalists and others. He also had made appearances as leader of Friday prayers at Tehran University, delivering messages approved by the ruling Shiite clerics. He remains a member of the Guardian Council. | |
| Another hard-liner, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, also was dropped from the Assembly. Mesbah-Yazdi is a leading figure in the seminary city of Qom, the center of Shiite learning in Iran. | Another hard-liner, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, also was dropped from the Assembly. Mesbah-Yazdi is a leading figure in the seminary city of Qom, the center of Shiite learning in Iran. |
| Among those retaining their Assembly seats were Rouhani and a former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. | |
| Read more: | Read more: |
| The key moments in the long history of U.S.-Iran tensions | |
| 12 charts and maps that make the Iran nuclear deal a little easier to understand | |
| Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world | Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world |