Iranian hard-liners win majority of votes

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s hard-liners won most of the remaining seats in an election runoff to give them full control over the country’s parliament, authorities said Saturday.

The result, and that of the previous vote in March, gives hard-liners 233 of the 290 seats in Iran’s parliament, according to an Associated Press tally.

Hard-liners seek more cultural and social restrictions based on Islamic sharia, including demanding that women wear the Islamic veil in public. They also express enmity toward the West, particularly the United States.

Those politicians calling for change in the country’s government, known broadly as reformists, were generally barred from running in the election. Those calling for radical reforms or for abandoning Iran’s theocratic system were also banned or didn’t bother to register as candidates.

Vote-counting began after the ballots closed late Friday, with the election authority publishing the names of the winners Saturday.

Interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said Saturday that the election saw “good participation,” without elaborating.

“All elected people have had a relatively good and acceptable” number of votes, he said.