Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei accused foreign media of trying to influence the mood of the population before the elections held on Friday in the country.
“This negative propaganda began a few months ago and increased with the approach of the elections. Over the past two days, under the pretext of a disease and a virus, their media used the slightest opportunity to discourage people from participating in the elections”, – said Khamenei, whose words were published on his official website.
Voting in the parliamentary elections in Iran took place on Friday, more than 7 thousand people are fighting for 290 seats, whose candidatures were approved by the Constitution Protection Council. In addition, midterm elections to the Council of Experts, a body with the right to appoint the supreme leader of Iran, were held in parallel.
Initially, more than 15 thousand people were candidates for participation in the parliamentary elections, some of them withdrew from the election, a significant part, including a number of current deputies, were not confirmed by the Council for the Protection of the Constitution.
The elections are held in a difficult environment for Iran under US economic pressure and will decide, according to experts, who will lead the parliament – reformists who are supporters of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and currently constitute the majority in parliament, or conservatives and opponents of the government’s course.
According to data published by the Iranian media, conservatives expectedly secured a majority in parliament, but the counting of votes in a number of polling stations continues.