The results from Iran’s parliamentary elections haven’t been released yet, but some triumphant language has accompanied the anticipated tallies, which indicate a surge for Iranian moderates.
Reform-minded and more moderate candidates swept all 30 parliamentary seats in Tehran, the country’s most heavily populated province, and won 15 of 16 seats on the influential Assembly of Experts, a council that will pick Iran’s next supreme leader, CNN reported. A record-high number of the women—some 20 seats out of a total 290—were also expected to join the legislature, according to The Guardian.
The election, held Friday, had been widely framed as a referendum on the country’s nuclear deal, a diplomatic effort that had been opposed by Iran’s more conservative contingents. The deal led by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s more moderate president, brought an end to years of crippling international sanctions last month.
But despite the suggested results, celebrating a newer, friendlier Iran may be premature. Thomas Erdbrink’s rhetorical couching of the results in The New York Times reflects a more nuanced picture of post-election Iran.
“While the hard-liners still remain firmly in control of the judiciary, security forces and much of the economy, the success of the moderate, pragmatic and pro-government forces seemed to have lent new momentum to Mr. Rouhani’s efforts to chart a course of greater liberalization at home and accommodation abroad,” he writes.