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Roundup: Iran's election concludes after 5 deadline extensions

Xinhua, February 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Polling in Iran's first post-sanctions parliamentary elections concluded on Friday after five voting extensions due to high public turnout.

The elections for Iran's Parliament (Majlis) and Assembly of Experts, the first since a nuclear deal last year that ended decades of sanctions against it, started at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday, started at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Friday, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his votes.

Iran's Interior Ministry announced the end of voting at 11:00 p.m. (1930 GMT).

"The voting should have ended at 6 p.m., but because of a big crowd of voters, we extended the deadline hour by hour. As long as there were people waiting, we would take votes from them," the state-appointed inspector, Ali-Akbar Rezaee, told Xinhua at Tehran's Hosseinieh Ershad polling station.

At the early hours on Friday, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei urged all eligible voters to go to the polls, arguing that doing so will "disappoint" enemies and boost "national sovereignty."

Also, President Hassan Rouhani said upon voting that "today's election is an embodiment of the country's political independence as well as the national sovereignty."

As the polls opened, Rouhani said "today's political participation means hope for the future of the country and confidence in the establishment as well as the authorities."

He added that regardless of the election results, the next legislative bodies, either Majlis or the Assembly of Experts, should serve the interest of the people and the country.

The senior Iranian hopeful for the Assembly of Experts and the former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told the reporters that "every vote for both elections will influence the future of the country, so everybody should be cognizant of the vote that he or she casts."

Mohannad-Hossein Moqimi, the chief of Iran's election bureau, told the state IRIB TV that the elections were held in peace and no security issues were reported.

On Tuesday, Iran's Deputy Police Chief Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni said that some 250,000 police officers had been deployed throughout the country to ensure security during Friday's polling.

Meanwhile, Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry announced that 500 journalists from 29 countries would cover the two major elections.

Out of 12,000 registered candidates, 6,229 are competing for 290 seats in the Majlis, or the Iranian Parliament. Iranians will also choose 88 members of the Assembly of Experts out of 166 qualified candidates.

The Assembly of Experts, a deliberative body of Islamic theologians, is elected every eight years and charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of the country and supervising his activities.

According to the Iranian law, Majlis candidates shall win at least a quarter of the votes in the first round of election in each region so as to win a seat in the parliament. Otherwise, a second round of voting is needed.

The final results for the two elections are expected to be announced in a week. Endit