Middle East Iran's women show political muscle Election campaigning Tehran style Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's eldest sister was among the winners as moderate and female candidates performed well in the first nationwide local elections since the revolution.
Iranian reformists look certain to seize control of Tehran's city council.
Partial results give supporters of moderate President Mohammad Khatami at least 12 of the 15 seats, with independents likely to get the other three seats. Results in several thousand small towns and villages have been published, but officials say those for the big cities will take several days. Women made up 5,000 of 300,000 candidates running in last Friday's elections to city and village councils. Counting in some areas is still continuing with final results expected on Friday. Women were reported to be front-runners in at least 20 cities with nearly all of them supporters of the president, who has encouraged women to play a bigger role in politics.