26 February 2016: Elections for the Iranian Parliament and the Assembly of Experts
Iranians went to the polls on the 26th of February to vote both for the 290 seat Parliament and the 88 seat Assembly of Experts. Reformists, favouring social freedoms and engagement with the West, won at least 85 seats while moderate conservatives — who support the nuclear deal — won 73, giving the two blocs together a 158 majority in the parliament. Hard-liners won just 68 seats while five seats will go to religious minorities, and the remaining 59 will be decided in a runoff, likely to be held in April. Moderates also won a 59 percent majority in the Assembly of Experts, which will choose the successor to Iran’s Supreme Leader.
The voting was seen as a referendum of sorts on the nuclear deal which was implemented earlier in January 2016, and virtually every prominent critic of the pact was defeated. While the conservative hard-liners still remain firmly in control of the judiciary, the security forces and much of the economy, the success of the moderate, pragmatic and pro-government forces seemed to give President Rouhani political power to push for greater liberalization of the economy at home and accommodation abroad.
