Region | Iran

Iranians begin voting in parliamentary elections

Iranians began voting on Friday in a parliamentary election that conservatives are expected to win after many opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running as candidates.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 10:17 March 14, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, casts his ballot.
  • Image Credit: AP
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Tehran: Iranians began voting on Friday in a parliamentary election that conservatives are expected to win after many opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running as candidates.

Many pro-reformist politicians, the staunchest critics of the president were disqualified from the race in a pre-vote screening process that has narrowed the field.

But Ahmadinejad is not guaranteed an easy ride even with a win by conservatives as the camp includes allies of the president, critics of his economic policies, and those looking beyond this election to the presidential race next year.

Reformists seeking political and social change had hoped to capitalise on public discontent about inflation, now at 19 percent. However, after the vetting process they may struggle to keep the 40 or so seats they hold in the 290-seat assembly now.

Parliament does not decide on major policy issues such as how to handle Iran's standoff with the West in which Washington accuses Tehran of having secret plans to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is only for power generation.

But food prices, not foreign policy, are what most ordinary people worry about in the world's fourth-largest oil producing country.

"I hope this time they do a better job and pay more attention to the economy, the housing problem and inflation," said Soraya Tavasoli, a middle-aged woman backing conservatives.

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