Parliamentary Runoff in Some Constituencies

Initial results showed that the parliamentary elections will go into a second round in a number of constituencies, with early results indicating initial gains for principlists in the Feb. 21 election.
Final results from several constituencies in provinces, including Kurdestan, East Azerbaijan and Isfahan, revealed that a runoff election would be held in at least eight constituencies in which the candidates failed to secure one-fifth of the votes. The second round will take place on April 17, IRNA reported.
Principlists are leading in the official count of votes from the 11th round of the parliamentary election held in 55,000 voting centers in 208 constituencies across the country.
Unofficial results indicated that the key Tehran constituency with 30 seats has been won by figures named in the list issued by principlists. The leading face is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the former mayor of Tehran and a three-time presidential contender. 
Qalibaf is followed by Mostafa Mirsalim, a former culture minister and one-time presidential candidate, and Morteza Aqa-Tehrani who is a former lawmaker. Elias Naderan, another former parliamentarian, was placed fourth in the race for Tehran's seats by Saturday evening.
The pro-reform camp has predictably won no seats in Tehran's constituency after it took a hit when the electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, disqualified a host of top figures.
Subsequently, the reformist policymaking council refused to release an official list for people to vote for, but encouraged the public to support contenders running on individual reformist parties’ ticket. 
“Voter participation rate will be announced on Sunday after all votes have been counted to avoid discrepancies,” the spokesperson for the Election Headquarters, Esmaeil Mousavi, said.
Mousavi also thanked the polling staff for their tireless work in the past few months, announcing that roughly one million people were involved in the electoral process.
Guardians Council Spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei talked to reporters in the final hours of voting on Friday, noting that no major electoral fraud had taken place.
Kadkhodaei pointed out that they had encountered some problems with the electronic voting system due to its "newness and the need for users to familiarize themselves with the devices".
The spokesman added that they had used manual methods in cases where a voter's identity could not be verified by the electronic voting system.
The Guardians Council announced on Saturday that the public have seven days to file their electoral complaints. 
The election was overall extended for six hours until 12 a.m. local time due to high turnout in some voting centers.
Results for the Assembly of Experts midterm elections held in five provinces were to be announced by Saturday afternoon.
By 5:40 p.m. local time on Saturday, the results for 95 out of 208 constituencies around the country had been finalized.
The new parliament will convene on May 28 for its first session.