Iranian conservatives secured the bulk of seats in elections for a key clerical body and the national legislature, AFP reported on Sunday, citing local media.
Authorities were still counting ballots two days after Friday’s vote for members of parliament and for the Assembly of Experts, which selects the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader.
The official IRNA news agency put the turnout at around “41 percent” among 61 million eligible voters. No official figure had yet been announced.
Fears of a low turnout had swirled ahead of the elections after a state TV poll found more than half of respondents were indifferent about the elections, noted AFP.
Turnout in the capital Tehran was around 25 percent, according to Iranian media, which reported that ultraconservative candidates secured 12 of the 30 parliament seats allotted to the capital.
Some seats have gone to a second round, which will take place in either April or May, IRNA reported.
A record figure of 15,200 hopefuls were competing for seats in the 290-member parliament.
Another 144 candidates sought a place in the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which is exclusively made up of male Islamic scholars.
Former President Hassan Rouhani cast his ballot on Friday despite his disqualification from running for the Assembly of Experts after 24 years of membership.
Rouhani, considered to be “moderate” by Iranian standards, was first elected in 2013 and reelected four years later.
He was replaced in 2021 by current President Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected in a landslide in that year’s election and is considered to be more hardline than Rouhani.
However, despite Rouhani being touted as a “moderate” reformist, Iran set new records under his presidency in the number of executions, many for political or religious “crimes”.
