Rouhani allies win most Tehran seats in clerical body-final results on IRNA

Final results from Iran's February 26 elections show relative moderate President Hassan Rohani and his allies winning a majority in the powerful Assembly of Experts and making a strong return to parliament as one of three dominant blocs.

Reformists, who favor expanded social freedoms and engagement with the West, won at least 85 seats, according to final results released by the Interior Ministry and broadcast on state TV.

In Tehran, the Principlists and Reformists each came up with a list of 30 candidates. Top conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad Adel was set to lose his seat.

The initial Assembly of Experts results reflect a "vote of confidence by the most politicized segment of the Iranian society for Messrs Rouhani and Rafsanjani's vision of a more pluralistic polity that is integrated into the global economy", said a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group.

"It was a healthy, legal and very good election", Fazli said. However, the voter turnout at the recent elections roughly reached 50 percent, what suggests that a significant part of Tehran citizens still doubts that their voices change anything and continue boycotting the elections.

The 88-member assembly appoints Iran's Supreme Leader and might end up choosing a successor to Ayatollah Khamenei, who is 76 and has suffered ill-health.

The timing of the elections was especially important.

In the last parliamentary elections in 2012, reformists largely boycotted the polls in protest at the disputed 2009 re-election of then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the subsequent house arrest in Tehran since 2011 of reformist leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Two prominent hardliners were on course to be elected with lesser scores in the experts assembly race: Ahmad Jannati was in 11th place and the assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, was 15th.

The outgoing parliament had acted as a brake on Rouhani's plans to strengthen the private sector, tackle corruption and welcome foreign investors. He has been a leading opponent of democratic reforms and has pressed for the disqualification of reformist candidates.

Results were based on about 1.3-M votes counted in Tehran, which has an electorate of some 8-M, according to state television.

Iranian media is banned from mentioning Khatami's name or publishing his pictures.

Some 69 constituencies had no clear victor, meaning a second round runoff in April in a field that has more conservatives than reformists and moderates.

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan, a newspaper closely associated with Khamenei, accused reformists of trying to create what he called an "illusion of a victory".

Another remarkable point is Rouhani's strong influence on the political atmosphere in Iran. "People's vote is limited to the responsibility they have been given in the constitution", Shariatmadari wrote. As for example, during the election campaigns, reformist and conservative classification was overshadowed by the division of political factions into pro- and anti-government in accordance with their closeness to the Iranian president.

The 4-day event of Automotive Industry International Conference is aimed at helping international vehicle makers get a better view of the Iranian auto market. Of 94 seats declared by yesterday, conservative hardliners have won 29, independents have taken 25 and the coalition 19.

"I expect more attention to be paid to job opportunities for women", Hemmati said.

Larijani s political heft was crucial to the nuclear deal being approved by MPs as he spoke up for Rouhani s government at key moments during the more than two years of negotiations that led to the accord.