Majority of Iran's parliamentary seats decided

TEHRAN, March 5 (MNA) – One hundred and ninety candidates have been elected so far to serve as lawmakers for a four-year term, Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced on Sunday. The parliamentary election was held on March 2, and the national turnout has been put at 64.2 percent. Thirty candidates will compete in a run-off election, Mohammad-Najjar told reporters. No decision has yet been made on the date for the run-off election. The interior minister also said that vote counting is underway to determine 70 other MPs, out of whom some will have to contest a run-off election. Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabifard, Ali Reza Marandi, Morteza Agha-Tehrani, Massoud Mir-Kazemi, Bijan Nobave-Vatan, Ahmad Tavakkoli, and Ali Motahhari are among the top leading candidates in the Tehran constituency. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the Iranian people demonstrated their strong will and loyalty to the Islamic Revolution on the election day. The high turnout frustrated the enemies, Ahmadinejad stated during a cabinet meeting.