The list is topped by Mohammad Reza Aref, a noted reformist politician and presidential runner in the 2013 election, who withdrew his bid in support of Hassan Rouhani. Their population for this round of elections stands at 3,088,300. The process involves only one round of voting and does not require a majority vote.
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The Iranian Revolution of 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed shah led to the creation of what is known as the Islamic Republic of Iran. “This is going to put him head-to-head with a lot of the hardliners and traditional conservatives in the parliament” opposed to foreign investment. This parliament has consistently attempted to undermine Rouhani by blocking his domestic policies and challenging his foreign policy initiatives. Supreme leader Khamenei eventually gave his consent to the final result.
There has been a unanimous push across the Iranian leadership to encourage a high voter turnout. The exact turnout was not immediately available, but Interior Minister Abdolreze Rahmani Fazli said Thursday he expected it to be around 70 percent. “I can’t decide whether to not vote or whether to cast an empty ballot”.
Even though Ahmadinejad hasn’t endorsed them officially or explicitly, it’s conceivable that they wish to take over the parliament and lay the groundwork for his comeback when Iranians return to the polls to elect the president next year.
Nevertheless, prominent reformists and moderates have scrabbled together a joint list of candidates in Tehran – 30 for parliament, and 16 for the Assembly of Experts – and hope this can propel them to an overall majority in both bodies. Only 159 clerics – a fifth of the applicants – were vying for the Assembly of Experts. A similar reception greeted reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.
Although such extensions are common in Iranian elections, many were surprised to see polling as busy in the evening as it had been in the morning.
The 12-member Guardian Council must approve all new laws and vet all electoral candidates, on both technical and ideological grounds.
“I’m sure the Iranian nation… with their well-known insight, will continue the path of the Imam and the leadership”, he said, in a nod to the Islamic republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and his successor, Khamenei.
Reformists say the preelection screening of candidates to the 88-seat assembly has assured that most of those running share the views of the most conservative allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While Rouhani vocally pushed back against the scale of the disqualifications and engaged in a delicate bartering process with the Guardian Council this had little impact on reversing the original decisions.
A pro-government coalition of moderate and reformist candidates called “The List of Hope” is representing the president’s ambitions in the polls.
Candidates across Iran’s political spectrum were disqualified, but reformists were hit particularly hard.
The rival conservative and reformist blocs in the elections have sought to address the issue. The disqualifications do not have a great impact on the first equation.
The elections will be a crucial indicator of the future direction Iranians want for their country. An opening to the world of this scale – and Rouhani’s popularity – have alarmed hardline allies of Khamenei, who fear losing control of the pace of change, as well as inroads into the lucrative economic interests they built up under sanctions. With renewed access to global financial systems, Iran is now also ramping up its oil exports, the country’s main source of revenues.
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“With a stronger parliament the country’s officials too will be convinced and accept that the people need change”, she said.
