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 The outcome shown in the latest results on Monday was a blow to
the conservative Islamic establishment, although it retains decisive
power due to Iran's unique dual system of clerical and republican
rule.
Most of the lawmakers who did not make it to the new parliament
strongly opposed the nuclear deal, including Mehdi Koochakzadeh, who
called Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif "a traitor", and
Roohollah Hosseinian, who threatened to bury the negotiators under
cement for agreeing to concessions to world powers.
"This election can be a turning point in the history of the Islamic
Republic," said an editorial in reformist newspaper Mardom-Salari,
whose managing editor, Mostafa Kavakebian, won a parliamentary seat
in Tehran according to the early results.
Rouhani and allied centrists and reformers won 15 out of the 16
Tehran seats in the Assembly of Experts, final election results for
Tehran showed, ousting two prominent conservatives including the
speaker of the powerful clerical body.
"The biggest achievement of this election is the return of
reformists to the ruling system ... so they won't be called
seditionists or infiltrators anymore," he said, referring to
hardliners who accused reformists of links to the West.
 The results, carried on state news agency IRNA, suggest
conservatives could lose their dominance of the 88-member body,
which is tasked with choosing the next supreme leader, the country's
most powerful position.
The twin polls, for the assembly and parliament, were seen by
analysts as a crucial moment for Iran after years of isolation, and
a vote of confidence in Rouhani's government and his detente policy
with the West.
KEY CONSERVATIVES OUT
Rouhani's allies were also due to take all 30 parliamentary seats in
the Tehran constituency, according to preliminary results, up from
just two previously.
But their gains outside the capital were more limited, with
conservatives keeping hold of many seats in both bodies.
The hardline chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Mohammad Yazdi,
lost his seat. So did Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, an
arch-conservative who was widely seen as the spiritual mentor to
former conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A prominent exception was Ahmad Jannati, who squeezed in at 16th
place. Jannati is also the chairman of the Guardian Council, a
cleric vetting body that disqualified the majority of reformist
candidates from running for the elections.
Leading conservative lawmakers who opposed Iran's new oil and gas
contracts aimed at attracting foreign investment and economic
reforms proposed by Rouhani’s government, also lost their seats,
according to final results.
That opens the way for changes to economic policy that will boost
foreign investment and trade with the West, businessmen and analysts
said.
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BOOST FOR TRADE, INVESTMENT
The outgoing parliament had acted as a brake on Rouhani's plans to
strengthen the private sector, tackle corruption and welcome foreign
investors.
"In economic affairs the next parliament will be much better than
the current parliament," said economist Saeed Leylaz, once an
advisor to reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.
In his first comment since the polls, Iran's deeply anti-Western
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the high turnout. He
made no direct comment on the results but suggested the newly
elected bodies should not be influenced by the West.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan, a newspaper
closely associated with Khamenei, accused reformists of trying to
create what he called an "illusion of a victory".
"The structure of the Iran’s ruling system is such that no political
faction can change the main policies rooted in its core principles.
People’s vote is limited to the responsibility they have been given
in the constitution," Shariatmadari wrote.
Iran's political system places significant power in the hands of the
conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council,
which vets all laws passed by parliament.
A Reuters tally of official results published so far suggested a
strong showing by the pro-Rouhani camp and independents. Reformists
had 58 seats, conservatives 105, and independents 46, results
showed, excluding Tehran where results remain preliminary.
Analysts say the large number of independents may be significant as
they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's
government. There will have to be run-off contests for 34 seats in
late April because no one won the required 25 percent of votes cast.
More than a dozen of the initial winners in those contests were
women.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Sam
Wilkin, Editing by William Maclean and Philippa Fletcher)
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