Iran: Rouhani moderate get stronger 6% women elected

[Anthea]

Iran's moderate Hassan Rouhani is gaining strength

The run-off parliamentary election win by the moderate government of Iran is a crucial victory for them.

The vote held on Friday was for 68 seats out of the 290 in parliament. It meant that nervous Iranians woke up on Saturday morning to an all new political landscape.

For the first time in 13 years moderates and reformists now have a majority in parliament.

While it was not a sweeping victory for the supporters of President Hassan Rouhani, it was still a surprise win, especially given the months of heavy campaigning against the government's policies.

Hardliners had a majority in the outgoing parliament.

In the three years since Hassan Rouhani took office, they have bitterly opposed most of government's plans, organising a fierce attack on the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Some MPs have even gone so far as to describe Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as a traitor.

The popular moderate who negotiated the nuclear deal has regularly been subject to harsh criticism in parliament and is under constant threat of impeachment by fundamentalist MPs.

Now almost all those MPs have been unseated by moderate or reformist counterparts, and those who remain either supported the deal or at least never attacked it as vociferously as their unseated comrades.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36180490

[Anthea]

Iran elections: Rouhani notes record 6% women elected

The president of Iran has congratulated voters on electing a record number of women to parliament since before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It was President Hassan Rouhani's first reaction to the results of Friday's run-off election, in which moderates and reformists won a working majority.

The 17 women elected make up 6% of the new cohort of 290 MPs.

Only 16 cleric MPs have been voted in, meaning the new parliament will include more women than religious leaders.

President Rouhani acknowledged the new record and said: "People chose the best candidates in the 26 February and 29 April elections."

The BBC's Kasra Naji says the results signal "a major shift in public support away from hardline Islamic conservatives".

Friday's run-off election was held in constituencies where no candidate had won the minimum proportion of the vote in a first round in February. Four women were elected in the run-off, joining other women who had been voted in already.

The outgoing parliament includes nine female representatives.

Friday's vote gives women in Iran the same share of seats as in countries including Thailand and Nigeria.

An 18th woman was elected but her votes have been annulled by the Guardian Council, a constitutional oversight body. No reasons were given for excluding Minu Khaleqi after the first round.

President Rouhani lent support to her in his speech on Sunday when he told an audience "18 female legislators" had been voted in.

Analysis by BBC Persian's Kasra Naji

The election of a record number of women is a sign of a major shift in public support away from hard-line Islamic conservatives who have taken only 26% of seats - a dismal performance.

This shift is also apparent in the fact that almost all hardline clerics lost their seats. The number of clerics in parliament in Iran has steadily declined over the years from 164 in the first parliament just after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Islamic hardliners see the declining number of clerics elected as a threat to the Islamic revolution and have called on more clerics to come forward and enter politics - at a time when many ordinary people are turning away from the religious leaders.

The elections have now ended the 12 year dominance of the Islamic hardliners over parliament.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-36182796