* Pragmatist Rouhani says his government strengthened
* Top Rouhani allies score poll success
* At least 33 million voted in twinned elections
* Elections were first since nuclear deal
* Voters polarised between moderates and hardliners
(Adds detail)
By Samia Nakhoul
TEHRAN, Feb 27 (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani won a
resounding vote of confidence and reformist allies won 29 out of
Tehran's 30 parliamentary seats in elections that could speed
Iran's post-sanctions opening to the world, early results
released on Saturday showed.
Tens of millions thronged polling stations on Friday for a
twin vote for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-member Assembly
of Experts, which selects the country's highest authority, the
supreme leader.
President Rouhani's reformist allies made gains in the races
for parliament and the assembly, both in the hands of
anti-Western hardliners for years. He said Iran's election had
given the government more credibility and clout.
"The competition is over. It's time to open a new chapter in
Iran's economic development based on domestic abilities and
international opportunities," the official IRNA news agency
quoted him as saying. He added that the government would
cooperate with anyone elected to build Iran's future.
"The people showed their power once again and gave more
credibility and strength to their elected government."
Rouhani and key ally and former president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani were leading the race for the Assembly of Experts
with most votes counted and appeared to be sure of winning
seats, early results released on Saturday showed.
The assembly results were initially announced as final in
an official statement. A later statement said the results were
partial and a final tally would be announced in due course.
An interior ministry statement said top reformist Mohammed
Reza Aref led the race for parliamentary seats among candidates
in Tehran. Aref was followed by five other reformists. Seventh
on the list was a senior conservative, results showed.
Aref, a Stanford-educated former presidential candidate and
minister, who served as vice-president to the former reformist
President Mohammad Khatami, led the reformist list in the
contest in Tehran, where more than 1,000 candidates are
competing for just 30 seats in parliament.
The elections were seen by analysts as a potential turning
point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of the 80 million
population is under 30. http://tmsnrt.rs/20VK0vG
The contests were the first since a landmark nuclear deal
last year that led to the removal of most of the sanctions that
have damaged the economy over the past decade.
Supporters of Rouhani, who championed the nuclear deal, were
pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khameni, who are deeply wary of detente with Western countries.
The conservative Guardian Council had restricted both races by
disqualifying most reformist and many moderate candidates.
Even if reformists do not emerge with a national majority in
the legislature, dominated since 2004 by conservatives, analysts
say they will secure a bigger presence than before.
Conservatives usually perform well in the countryside while
young town-dwellers tend to prefer moderate candidates.
HIGH REFORMIST HOPES
Reformists seeking more social and economic freedoms and
diplomatic engagement had voiced high hopes of expanding their
sway in parliament and easing conservative clerics' grip on the
experts' assembly.
Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst and economist who served
as an adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami, said initial
indications were beyond reformist expectations.
"It seems the number of candidates who belong to the
reformist and independent groups will be the majority in
parliament and I am hopeful that the new parliament will be
perfect for us," he told Reuters.
"In the Assembly of Experts our initial expectation was 15
to 20 percent but it seems it will be beyond that."
Rafsanjani, 81, a prominent leader ever since Iran's 1979
Islamic revolution, called for national unity now the divisive
campaign was over. "The competition is over and the phase of
unity and cooperation has arrived," state news agency IRNA
quoted him as saying. "The time after elections is the time for
hard work to build the country."
Newspapers hailed what they saw as a huge turnout, including
many young voters. Polling was extended five times for a total
of almost six extra hours because so many people wanted to vote.
Iran's Financial Tribune newspaper said three million
first-time voters were among the nearly 55 million people aged
18 and over who are eligible to cast ballots.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hosseinali Amiri said more than
33 million votes had been cast but that tally was not final. It
would probably take three days to count all the votes, he said.
MOUSAVI VOTES
Authorities had promised that all Iranians would be able to
vote and on Friday opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his
wife voted for the first time since being put under house arrest
in 2011, an ally of Mousavi's told Reuters.
Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves, a
diversified manufacturing base and an educated workforce, is
seen by global investors as a huge emerging market opportunity,
in everything from cars to airplanes and railways to retail.
For ordinary Iranians, the prospect of this kind of
investment holds out the promise of a return to economic growth,
better living standards and more jobs in the long run.
An opening to the world of this scale -- and Rouhani's
popularity -- have alarmed hardline allies of Khamenei, who fear
losing control of the pace of change, as well as erosion of the
lucrative economic interests they built up under sanctions.
Whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places
considerable power in the hands of the conservative Islamic
establishment including the 12-member Guardian Council, which
vets all electoral candidates. It had already tried to shape
Friday's vote by excluding thousands of candidates, including
many moderates and almost all reformists.
(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Babak
Dehghanpisheh, Sam Wilkin; Editing by William Maclean, Catherine
Evans and Paul Taylor)
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