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Update: Iran completes vote counts on two key elections

Xinhua, March 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Vote counts on Iran's two key elections of the parliament and Assembly of Experts ended on Monday, with a second round of polling expected likely in mid-April, according to the interior minister.

"The turnout was around 50 percent in the capital Tehran and some 62 percent across the country, which is a good turnout under the current circumstances," Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying by Press TV.

The results will be sent to the Guardian Council, the high legislative body, for approval, the minister said.

As some of the candidates did not win the required number of votes, a second round of election, most likely in mid-April, will be held to decide the remaining seats.

The number of vacant seats, which some media said could be 60, will be announced after the Guardian Council approved the authenticity of the polling process in different regions of the country.

Mehr news agency guessed the number of the elected reformists would be 85, the conservatives 93 and independents 33, while Tasnim news agency's estimation was 94, 93 and 34 respectively.

ISNA news agency thought principlists will get 76 seats and independents 60, while the reformists will secure 80 seats.

According to the reports, the religious minorities will occupy five seats of the parliament.

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

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