Reformist and moderate politicians allied with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani won most seats in second-round parliamentary elections, the Interior Ministry of Iran reports.
According to recent reports, the reformists won 38 seats in parliament out of a total of 68, which were played in the second round. Remaining 18 seats went to the Conservatives and 12 to the Independents, according to final results published by the Interior Ministry.
As a result, the reformists get a parliamentary majority, but not absolute. The second largest force will be the Conservatives, the third one is the independent candidates. Official results also showed 17 women were elected - eight more than at present and the highest female representation since the country's revolution in 1979, the Daily Mail reports.
The final results will be announce tomorrow. Then they will be confirmed by Iran's Guardian Council of the Constitution.
The second round of the elections was held yesterday. Due to the high turnout the Central Election Commission of Iran announced the extension of voting by one hour until 20:00 (21:30 Moscow time). According to the CEC, the final turnout was 59%, the majority of voters (56%) were men. About 17 million citizens were eligible to vote.
Earlier this week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on citizens to vote. "The second round of parliamentary elections is not less important than the first. All eligible voters must participate," he stressed.
In the first round of the elections the conservatives won 105 seats in the parliament (46%), the reformers and the moderates 95 seats. There is a total of 290 seats in the Iranian parliament. The second round was held in the districts, where candidates failed to get 25% of votes cast in the first round of the elections.
The Parliament will begin its work in the new composition on May 27.
