Iranian election results today showed conservatives on course to keep their grip on parliament, but some were expected to join reformists in flaying President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's handling of the economy.
Iranian voters check candidate names during Iran's parliamentary election yesterday
Conservatives took 108 seats in the 290-member assembly against 33 for reformists according to partial, unofficial results reported by the state English-language Press TV station.
The Interior Ministry, which supervised yesterday's election, has supplied no detailed results, saying it might take another day or two to announce a final nationwide tally.
Many reformists, trying to capitalise on public discontent over inflation, were disqualified from standing in the polls, but they expect Ahmadinejad to undergo sharper scrutiny even in a parliament dominated by their conservative rivals.
"The president will face more challenges with the next parliament than he did with the current one," said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a close ally of reformist ex-President Mohammad Khatami.
Abdollah Nasseri, spokesman for the reformist coalition, said it had won 34 seats outright in results that excluded Tehran. Reformists, not all of them members of the coalition, were assured of another 15 seats in run-off votes, he said.
"We announce with honour that we gained victory in an unequal election," Mr Nasseri told a news conference, saying 70 percent of seats had been "predetermined" for conservatives.
Reformists held about 40 seats in the outgoing parliament. Direct comparison with the previous assembly is complicated by fluid factional loyalties and a large group of independents.
Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said more than 71 per cent of seats counted so far had gone to "principlists" - a term conservatives use to describe their loyalty to the ideals of the Islamic Republic. Reformists had taken about 29 per cent.
Pourmohammadi did not say how many seats had been decided.
The United Front, the larger and more pro-government of the two main conservative candidate lists, confusingly includes critics as well as backers of Mr Ahmadinejad.
An Iranian political analyst, who asked not to be named, predicted a rougher ride for Mr Ahmadinejad in the next assembly.