Iranian Reformers Get Almost All Votes in Elections in Tehran

Supporters of reforms in Iran have won at the last elections in Tehran. They got 15 of 16 seats, provided to the capital in the Council of Experts - body, influencing the choice of the spiritual leader of the country.

As reported by IRNA, the vast majority of seats in the Board of Experts and Iran's parliament from the capital were gained by supporters of reform, who unite around President Hassan Rouhani and the former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

 Conservatives were able to pass only one candidate to the Council of Experts. Elections were also lost by the current Chairman of the Council Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah  Yazdi, who is considered the spiritual mentor of the former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was a Conservative.

The only hardliner in the Council of Experts will be Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, which has the right to veto the nomination of candidates to the Council of Experts.

With regard to elections to the parliament in the capital region, the reformers got all the 30 seats.

The Council of Experts is a collection of theologians chosen by popular vote. Total there are 88 people in it, who have the right to appoint or remove the Supreme Leader of the country, Rahbar.

Friday's elections were the first in Iran after the cancellation of international sanctions. In the country they are regarded as the de facto referendum on confidence in the Rouhani government and the policy of improving relations with the West, Reuters reported.

Despite the success in Tehran, reformers cannot obtain a majority in the Parliament and the Council of Experts, because outside of the capital region the elections were mainly won by the Conservatives. -0-