Moderates poised to make small gains in Iranian parliamentary elections.
TEHRAN, Iran — Moderates were poised for a strong showing as votes were counted Saturday in Iranian parliamentary elections that served as a referendum on the nuclear deal Iran struck with six world powers last year.
Supporters of the deal and of President Hassan Rouhani were expected to pick up more seats in the 290-seat Parliament. That could allow Rouhani to pursue further rapprochement with the West, implement some domestic reforms and attract more foreign investment — aims that had been thwarted by conservative hard-liners in the previous parliament.
Nevertheless, antiWestern conservatives and their allies were likely to retain control of the legislature — as they have since 2004 — after thousands of moderate candidates were disqualified before the vote.
In preliminary results released late Saturday, two parliamentary candidates allied with Rouhani, Mohammad Reza Aref and Ali Motahari, garnered the most votes in the Tehran constituency, the country’s largest.
“Whatever the results, the reputation of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been enhanced,” Rouhani said in a statement.
Voters also were selecting the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which chooses the country’s clerical supreme leader. In Iran’s hybrid political system, major decisions rest with the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Turnout in Friday’s election was 60 percent of nearly 55 million eligible voters, the Interior Ministry said, a high figure that analysts said would benefit moderates and reformists.
The election was an important test for Rouhani, who was elected in 2013 to resolve the crisis over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, which had prompted harsh sanctions and isolated the country’s economy. The U.S. and other countries lifted the most severe sanctions after Iran complied with restrictions on its nu- clear program, and although economic benefits have not yet trickled down to the average Iranian, the deal is widely popular.
Many Iranians said they voted against hard-liners to strengthen Rouhani’s hand in parliament.
“Depriving the hard-liners of one seat in the parliament and Assembly of Experts is better than nothing,” said Reza Agharahimi, 28, who cast a ballot Friday morning in northern Tehran.
In low-income and working-class southern districts of the capital, however, turnout was lower, as residents said they saw no benefit in casting ballots.
“Why on earth should I vote for any of them — they don’t take care of my economic needs,” said Abolfazl Hasani, a retired army colonel. “Any vote I made in past decades was a mistake.”