Principalists lead Iran's parliamentary elections

Tehran, Feb 22 (IANS) Principalists were leading across different constituencies in Iran's 11th parliamentary elections, partial results revealed on Saturday.

The initial results were published by Iranian media outlets hours after voting ended on Friday midnight, reports Press TV.

According to the Fars News Agency, principalists held a clear lead in the capital Tehran, which has 30 seats in Parliament.

Spokesman and secretary of the Interior Ministry's elections committee, Esmail Mousavi said official constituency results will be announced later on Saturday.

"In certain constituencies, however, releasing results will take until Sunday due to the number of candidates," he said.

Reformists were able to relatively dominate the previous parliamentary elections in 2016.

Observers have cited US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Washington's sanctions, and economic pressure during the government of President Hassan Rouhani - largely supported by reformists - as possible reasons for their decline, said the Press TV report.

More than 7,000 candidates competed for 290 seats during Friday's elections.

A total of 57,918,000 people were eligible to cast their ballots.

A winning candidate must have at least 20 per cent of the votes cast in their constituency in order to become a lawmaker for a four-year term.

A second round of parliamentary elections takes place when candidates fail to reach the required percentage.