Conservatives dominate Iran’s parliament, assembly elections

Preliminary indications put voter turnout at around 40 percent, the lowest levels since the country’s 1979 revolution.

Tehran, Iran – A range of conservative candidates have swept the parliamentary and religious assembly elections in Iran as the country faces political and economic challenges.

Final vote counting is under way after millions went to the polls on Friday to select 290 lawmakers and 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, a body tasked with choosing the supreme leader made up entirely of Islamic scholars.

Official preliminary results from Tehran on Saturday indicate that ultraconservatives Mahmoud Nabavian and Hamid Resaee have topped the list of 30 representatives, followed by 35-year-old state television host turned first-time lawmaker, Amir Hossein Sabeti.

Parliament chief Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf finished fourth, and only a handful of his sponsored candidates ascended. Longtime lawmaker Mojtaba Zonnour grabbed a seat in the holy Shia city of Qom.

Few reformist or moderate voices managed to secure entry into parliament, marking the second parliamentary election in which they were largely absent.