Iranians flock to polls in first vote since nuclear deal

Iranians line up to vote in February 2016

(Image credit: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)

published 26 February 2016

On Friday, Iranians lined up outside polling places to vote in the first national elections since Iran reached a nuclear agreement with the U.S. and other world powers last year. At stake are all 290 seats in parliament and 88 seats in the Assembly of Experts, the body of clerics that picks the supreme leader and may well pick the successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 76 and has dealt with health problems. Both bodies are currently controlled by conservatives.

Khamenei, a hardliner opposed to Western influence, urged Iranians to vote, saying "turnout in the elections should be so high to disappoint our enemies." The moderates and reformists led by President Hassan Rouhani would like to use the diplomatic thaw of the nuclear deal to attract Western investment and create jobs. Iran's system of government invests a lot of power in the supreme leader and the Guardian Council, which approves all laws and has already put its stamp on the election by rejecting most of the moderate and nearly all of the reformist candidates who registered to run.

There are more than 6,200 candidates approved to run for the 290 seats in parliament, including about 450 women, but with an average of 17 candidates running for each seat, runoff elections are likely in many races — a candidate needs 25 percent of the vote to win outright.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.