Final results of Iran's Parliamentary elections announced

The Iranian interior ministry announced the final results of the Friday parliamentary elections in the country after ballot counting in Tehran - as the most crowded and last constituency in Iran - ended. According to the announcement of the Interior Ministry's Elections Headquarters on Monday, around 31 million, or 64%, of the 48 million Iranians who were eligible to vote on Friday have participated in the polls. In Tehran, where candidates vied with each other for 30 parliament seats, a total number of 2,335,124 people have taken part in the elections, the statement said, adding that former Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel followed by Seyed Alireza Marandi, Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi Fard, Morteza Aqa Tehrani and Seyed Massoud Mir Kazzemi could open their way to the parliament, while others could not win, at least, one-fourth of the votes cast in Tehran on Friday and should take part in the runoff elections later this year. 50 more candidates should prepare to compete with each other once again to win one of the remaining 25 seats left for Tehran in the runoff elections. According to the official, the list of the 50 candidates is as follows: Bijan Nobaveh Vatan, Ahmad Tavakkoli, Esmayeel Kosari, Ali Motahhari, Ruhollah Hosseinian, Ali Asqar Zareyee, Alireza Zakani, Hossein Mozaffar, Zohreh Tabibzadeh Nouri, Mohammad Soleimani, Gholamreza Mesbahi Moqaddam, Seyed Mehdi Hashemi, Seyed Mahmoud Nabavian, Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, Mehrdad Bazrpash, Hamid Rasayee, Elyas Naderan, Laleh Eftekhari, Mojtaba Rahmandoust, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Hossein Fadayee Ashtiani, Parviz Sorouri, Fatemeh Alia, Fatemeh Rahbar, Hossein Nejabat, Zohreh Elahian, Qassem Ravanbakhsh, Mohsen Kazzerouni, Zohreh Sadat Lajevardi, Mohammad Nasser Saqqaye Biria, Elham Aminzadeh, Hossein Tala, Asadollah Badamchian, Alireza Mahjoub, Hassan Qafourifard, Hassan Hamidzadeh, Soheila Jelodarzadeh, Mohammad Nabi Roudaki, Mohammad Nabi Habibi, Batoul Namjou, Mohammad Hossein Ostad Aqa, Farhad Javanmardi, Mohammad Jamal Khalilian Ashkzari, Ali Asqar Khani, Mohammad Esmayeel Kefayati, Alireza Saffarzadeh, Javad Mohammadi, Hamidreza Katouzian, Ali Khatibi Sharifiyeh, Ebrahim Ansarian The Iranian interior ministry announced that final estimates show around 64% of eligible voters took part in the Friday elections. Over 48 million Iranian voters were eligible to cast their ballots in the legislative polls. A sum of over 3,269 hopefuls vied with each other for 290 parliament seats. Analysts say Iranians' massive participation in the Friday elections had a clear message for the West. The turnout was so high that the Interior Ministry was made to extend the deadline four times. Also political observers reiterated that Iranians gave crushing response to US war rhetoric through their massive participation in the Friday elections The American and European reporters and journalists who had come to Iran to cover the elections were astonished by the high level of public participation at the polling stations. The foreign journalists were astounded after they witnessed large crowds of people queuing at the polling stations even before voting officially started. After casting his vote in the ballot box, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined the importance of high turnout in the ninth parliamentary elections for Iran's security and immunity. "The more enthusiastic and motivated people come (to the voting stations), the better and more fruitful it (their participation) will be for the country's future and reputation and for maintaining security and immunity," Ayatollah Khamenei said after casting his vote in Tehran in the early hours of Friday morning. He also stressed the sensitiveness of the ninth parliamentary vote, and said, "Since there are many hues and cries and words of threat against the Iranian nation, the Iranian nation is placed in a more sensitive position in this round (of elections) and it can speak better and this speaking is done through action." Ayatollah Khamenei had earlier stressed that the Iranian nation will display its strong will and determination to the enemies by its high turnout in the parliamentary elections on Friday. "The Iranian nation will give a slap stronger than the February 11 (popular rallies on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran) across the face of the arrogant powers and will display its strong will and determination to the enemies," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of Iranian people in Tehran late February. He described the Friday parliamentary elections as more sensitive than the previous polls held in the country, and said, "The arrogant powers' front should know that it can do nothing to the (Iranian) nation."