Ballots Counting Underway in Iran Elections

Local Editor

Doors of polling stations for Iran's parliamentary elections concluded closed at 23:45 hours local time[2015 GMT] on Friday after being extended five times as voters queued up in long lines to cast their ballots. The process of counting ballots is already underway.

Iranians went to the polls in over 1,063 constituencies for the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts and the 10th parliamentary elections.

Some 54,915, 024 Iranians were eligible to participate in the voting.

It is expected that part of results will be out on Saturday in minor cities and provinces but in the capital Tehran and other major cities it will be announced in coming days.

Iran's Interior Ministry said in a statement that the election staff at each polling station should first count the ballots related to the Assembly of Experts poll and then do the same for the parliamentary election.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli said results would be announced Saturday. He had earlier said that turnout was estimated to be around 70 percent based on opinion polls.

As many as 4,844 candidates, including about 500 women, were competing for a place in the 290-seat Parliament. A total of 159 others were running for the 88-member Assembly of Experts.

The elected candidates will serve from May 3, 2016 for a four-year term.

In the capital Tehran, more than 1,000 candidates were competing for just 30 parliamentary seats.

The Assembly of Experts will also see its 88 members elected by the people for another eight-year term.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team