Iran's run-off parliamentary election ends
Parisa Hafezi And Zahra HosseinianTEHRAN, April 25 (Reuters) - Iranians voted on Friday in arun-off parliamentary election expected to leave conservativesstill firmly in control after many moderates were disqualifiedin the first round.
Polling stations closed at 9 p.m. (1630 GMT), three hoursafter the scheduled closing time, state television said. Suchextensions are common in Iranian elections to allow more votersto cast ballots.
Conservatives won a majority of seats in the 290-memberparliament in the first round of the election in March, but insome places no candidate secured enough votes to win -- hencethe run-off.
Moderate opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said thevote was unfair because the unelected Guardian Council, whichscreens candidates on their commitment to Islam and Iran'sclerical system, barred many of them from running in March.
Reformists, who secured more than 30 seats in the firstround, have called for a high turn-out to give the opposition abigger voice.
Iranians voted to elect 82 lawmakers out of 164 candidatesin 100 cities. The new parliament will begin work in May.
"The turn-out is expected to be more than the turn-out inthe 2004 run-off parliamentary vote, which was around 20percent," Alireza Afshar, head of the Interior Ministry'selection headquarters, told state television. "Counting of voteswill start on Saturday."
The turn-out in the March vote was around 60 percent.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Parliament does not determine policy in areas such as Iran'sdisputed nuclear programme, oil or foreign affairs. It does,however, have an influence on economic policy.
The country's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei, and other officials urged Iranians to vote.
Before the March vote, Khamenei, who usually prefers to stayabove the political fray, called on voters to favour hardlinecandidates who supported the government.
Khamenei has the last word on all state matters includingIran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover tobuild nuclear bombs. Tehran says it wants nuclear power forelectricity.
Ahmadinejad said parliament played a key role in Iran.
"Parliament is very important in creating national unity andmaking decisions," Ahmadinejad said after voting.
Hardline backers of Ahmadinejad support his no-compromiseapproach to the nuclear dispute with the West, but reformistsand moderate conservatives blame him for provoking the U.N.Security Council to hit Iran with three rounds of sanctions.
Ahmadinejad, who won the presidency in 2005 pledging toshare out Iran's oil wealth more fairly, has come under mountingpressure from the public, top clerics and the outgoing assemblyover his failure to rein in inflation, now over 20 percent.
Analysts say despite the conservatives' dominance, the nextparliament will be more vocal in its criticism of Ahmadinejad'seconomic management because the conservative camp in theassembly includes not just his allies, but critics as well.
Rivals of Ahmadinejad, including former chief nuclearnegotiator Ali Larijani who secured a seat in the first round,are looking beyond this vote to the 2009 presidential poll. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Giles Elgood)