Day of silence before parliamentary election in Iran

Today a day of silence has been announced in Iran on the eve of the elections to the Majlis (parliament). All campaigning was stopped in the country from 20.00 local time on February 24th in accordance with the electoral law.

Iranian citizens will elect 290 Majlis representatives for the next four years. Since the start of the election campaign on February 18 the number of applicants has decreased from 6229 to about 5550 people. At the same time, 88 members of the Assembly of Experts will be elected for a period of eight years.

Iran has around 55 million eligible voters. 250 thousand police officers will provide security during elections in the Islamic Republic.

Conservatives have built their campaign on criticism of the moderate government of President Hassan Rouhani and reformers.

Moderates and reformers, in their turn, support the government's reforms aimed at updating and modernising production by attracting Iranian and foreign investment.

Unlike the conservatives, they fully endorse the government's foreign policy and Tehran's nuclear agreement.

Both political forces name the fight against unemployment and the problem of employment as the main objectives of their economic and social programs, TASS reports.