Run-off parliamentary elections conclude in Iran

The second round of the 10th Majlis (parliament) elections in Iran concluded on Friday after three hours of extended voting time to 21:00 local time (1630 GMT).

In the first round of the elections, 221 out of the 290 seats were filled and the fate of 69 others will be decided following the run-off contests with 138 candidates.

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the nation to actively participate in the run-off elections as they did in the first round on Feb. 26.

Head of the Iranian Interior Ministry's Election Headquarters Mohammad Hossein Moqimi said Friday that no security problem was reported during the nationwide elections, Tasnim news agency reported.

Executive committees and representatives of supervising organizations, including the Guardian Council, attended Friday's polling and properly monitored the voting process, Moqimi was quoted as saying.

He expected that the results would be announced in the early hours of Saturday.

According to the local media, the reformists and moderates gained ground in the first round, but none of the heavyweight political groups have been able to seize the majority.

In Tehran, all the 30 seats available in the Majlis have gone to the reformists and moderates.

During the ninth Majlis elections on March 2012, the principlists or the loyalists to Iran's Supreme Leader and powerful clerics had won the majority of about 75 percent in the first round of elections.

Earlier, the Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that the turnout, out of about 55 million eligible voters, was around 50 percent in Tehran and some 62 percent across the country on Feb. 26.

The figure of the first round of 2012 parliamentary elections in Iran was over 64 percent out of some 48 million eligible voters.

Source: XINHUA