Iran Prepares for Parliament, Assembly of Experts Elections

Local Editor

Iranians across the country will go to the polls on Friday to cast their ballots in two crucial elections.

Voting for the 290-seat Parliament [Majlis] and the 88-member Assembly of Experts will be held simultaneously on Friday. Some 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the two elections.

As many as 6,300 candidates, including 586 women, are competing for a place in the Parliament, while 161 others are running for the Assembly of Experts.

The week-long campaigns of the candidates officially ended at 8 a.m. local time on Thursday, 24 hours before the beginning of the votes.

A large number of Iranian religious and political figures have called for a high turnout in the polls.

Ahead of the voting, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei warned against enemy schemes to infiltrate the country, calling on the nation to remain vigilant in the face of enemy plots to "create discord."

"The nation neither wants a pro-government parliament nor an anti-government one," Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding that Iranians want a strong parliament that fulfills its duties and is not intimidated into submission to the United States.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani texted mobile phone users urging them to vote, saying participation was needed "to build the future of the country with plenty of hope."

In their campaigns, candidates zeroed in on economic topics, including unemployment, economic growth, and recession. The official unemployment rate stands at 10 percent and inflation hovers around 15 percent.

Members of Parliament generally break into two main blocs, those who support a reformist agenda and those who call themselves principlists.

Reformists are vying for seats under the leadership of Mohammed Reza Aref, a former vice president, while the main principlist faction in the elections is headed by Gholamali Hadad Adel, a former parliament speaker.

Any new legislation must pass through the Parliament; hence, the elections matter to the president to press ahead with his plans.

"We are worried about the numerous [Western] companies that are constantly travelling to Iran since the nuclear agreement," Hadad Adel said on Wednesday.

President Rouhani is also is seeking re-election in the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body which is tasked with monitoring the performance of and appointing the Leader.

Members of the Assembly serve eight-year terms while MPs are elected every four years.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team