Blackmoon
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Iranian officials on Saturday celebrated a large turnout in the nation's elections, and touted preliminary results, based on just 3% of the votes cast, showing reformist backers of President Hassan Rouhani in the lead, according to Iranian news outlets.
The tally so far from Friday's elections is based on 1 million votes, a third of those cast in the capital district of Tehran, according to the Mehrs News Agency. Final results will be announced Tuesday, Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said, according to the Fars News agency.
Reformists are doing well in early results because 30 of the 48 reformist candidates and their allies are based in Tehran. Elsewhere, "there's not many seats" that reformists are seeking, said Rod Sanjabi, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. The election process is monitored by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp rather than independent monitors, he said.
Fazli said 33 million people, more than 60% of eligible voters, participated in elections for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which is likely to appoint the next supreme leader. Polls opened at 8 a.m. and were supposed to remain open for 10 hours but were extended until midnight to accommodate voters, according to the Tasnim News Agency.