Iran holds election, hardliners set to dominate with turnout key

DUBAI - Iranians voted on Friday in a parliamentary election likely to help hardline loyalists of the supreme leader tighten their grip on power as the country faces mounting U.S. pressure over its nuclear program and growing discontent at home. State television said voting would run for 10 hours, but could be extended depending on turnout, which is seen as a critical test of the popularity of the clerical establishment after most moderates and leading conservative candidates were barred from running. Seven hours after polls opened, an Interior Ministry official said about 11 million of 58 million eligible voters had cast their ballots for candidates in the 290-member parliament, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported. With thousands of potential candidates disqualified in favor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s allies, the vote is not expected to ease Iran’s nuclear standoff with the United States or spawn a softer foreign policy. Parliament’s power is limited, but gains by security hawks could weaken pragmatists and conservatives who support the ruling theocracy but also more economically beneficial engagement with the West, from which Tehran has been estranged since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. A rise in the number of hardliners in the Assembly may also help them in the 2021 contest for president, a job with broad daily control of government. President Hassan Rouhani, from the pragmatist faction, won the last two elections on promises to open Iran to the outside world. The United States’ 2018 withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, and its reimposition of sanctions, have hit Iran’s economy hard and led to widespread hardships.

(Reuters)