Iranians flocked to the polls yesterday to choose between 132 candidates standing for 66 seats in the 290-seat parliament.
The run-offs were held in 52 constituencies where no candidate took 25 per cent of the poll in the first round. Initial results are due late today.
During the opening round on February 18th, reformists allied to President Muhammad Khatami won a clear majority of seats. But the conservative-dominated Council of Guardians annulled the results for nine seats and staged repeated recounts in Tehran, where 29 of the 30 seats were originally said to have been won by reformists.
The formal announcement of the results of this key race is still pending. Undecided seats will be filled in a by-election which the Guardians' Council has yet to schedule.
The reformists need to secure at least 26 seats in this round to secure a simple majority in the Majlis (parliament). Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, all five assemblies have been dominated by the conservatives. The sixth Majlis is due to take office on May 27th.
Some 26.8 million Iranians who participated in the first round were eligible to cast their ballots in the second. While voting was not as heavy as in February, the turnout was deemed high for a run-off. The entire electorate is 39 million.
Nine women won seats in the first round and another six stood in the second. The outgoing assembly has 14 female members.
Yesterday's vote was peaceful in spite of two weeks of rising tension during which conservative clerics, who hold the levers of power, curbed the mandate of the new Majlis, jailed liberals close to Dr Khatami and shut down 16 pro-reform journals. Two leading dailies, Mosharekat, edited by the President's brother, Mr Muhammad Reza Khatami, who won the highest number of votes in Tehran, and Sobh-e-Emrouz, are expected to resume publication shortly.
The conservatives waged war against the reformists in order to obstruct the adoption by the Majlis of an economic reform programme which would privatise state monopolies, impose taxes and regulate trade and the wealthy foundations which run many important industries.
Alleging they are "un-Islamic", conservatives oppose such reforms, which would deprive leading figures and constituencies of power and privilege.
AFP adds: A conservative cleric yesterday condemned international concern over the trial of 13 Iranian Jews, saying Iran's courts were completely independent.
"There is no reason for these worries because Iran's judicial system is totally independent," said Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi at Tehran university.
