Iran’s Larijani Lauds People’s Participation in Elections

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the people’s participation in the parliamentary and the Assembly of Experts elections gave credit to “the main pillar of democracy” in the Islamic Republic.

News ID: 80308

Date: 24 February 2020 - 15:16

Addressing an open session of the parliament on Monday, Larijani expressed his gratitude to the Iranian people for the recent nationwide rallies marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution victory and their participation in the Friday elections and said, “The dear nation, by going to the ballot boxes, has given credit to the main pillar of democracy (parliament).”

By electing their representatives, the people determined a major part of the path to rule the country over the next four years, he added.

The parliament speaker also offered his congratulations to the candidates who were elected in the polls  and expressed hope that they will work hard to fulfill the demands of the nation, given the sensitive conditions of the country.

The final result of the parliamentary elections was announced on Sunday, showing that Principlists, the main rivals of the reformists, had won the polls.

The nationwide votes for the parliament and the midterm elections of the Assembly of Experts officially began in Iran on Friday morning and closed at midnight.

Voting hours were extended four times. The deadline was initially set at 6 p.m. but finally, voting was prolonged until 12 a.m.

Having gone through a formal qualification process by Iran’s Guardian Council, a total of 7,148 candidates, including dozens of Iranians from the religious minorities, ran for the parliament.

There were 290 seats in the parliament up for grabs. The lawmakers are elected for a 4-year term, with no limitation for the incumbent or former parliamentarians to run again.

Also, people in five provinces, North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, Fars, Tehran, and Qom went to the polls to elect 7 candidates running for the midterm election of the 88-member Assembly of Experts, a high-ranking body that elects the leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Members of the assembly are directly elected to office by people for an eight-year term. It holds biannual meetings to appoint a new chairman.

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