Iranians head to the polls in parliamentary election
Millions of Iranians headed to the polls on Friday (February 21) in a parliamentary election that looks likely to help hardline loyalists of the supreme leader tighten their grip on power.
Thousands of potential candidates were disqualified in favour of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's allies.
Voting in Tehran, the Ayatollah said that cating a ballot is a 'religious duty'.
(SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH, ALI KHAMENEI, SAYING:
"Voting is a religious duty, which we have said in the past. And the truth is that elections guarantee the national interests of Iran. Anyone who is believes in the national interests of this country will participate in the voting. My advice is that first everyone move with effort and come, with their own opinions formed, to vote and to do this early, we always advise this. Meaning not to leave this last minute, but to vote early in the day."
Parliament's power is limited, and the vote is not expected to influence the country's increasingly strained relationship with the United States or foreign policy.
Washington's 2018 withdrawal from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, and its reimposition of sanctions, have hit Iran's economy hard and led to growing discontent.
With 58 million iranians eligible to vote, a big turnout would signal to Washington that Iran is unbowed by sanctions and the killing of military commander Qassem Soleimani back in January.
