Election officials in Iran say about one-third of the votes have been tallied for the remaining 30 parliamentary seats in the Iranian capital, and reformist candidates are winning most of these races. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from Tehran that these returns, along with final results from the rest of the country issued earlier Monday, indicate a coalition of reformist and centrist candidates is set to dominate Iran's next parliament, with three-fourths of the seats. Final results are in for 207 of the parliament's 290 seats. Reformist candidates and their centrist allies have won more than 70 percent of these.
Conservative candidates have about one-fourth of the vote.
The remaining seats are to be decided in a runoff election next month. Iranian observers following the tally say they expect reformists to take most of the seats in Tehran, as well as most of the seats in the runoff election. This would give a predominant role in the next parliament to advocates of change. The election is expected to boost President Mohammad Khatami's program of greater social and political freedoms. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, a centrist, has frequently been mentioned as the possible speaker in the new parliament.