Reformists leading in Iran parliament vote

Head of the reformists’ coalition list of the Iranian parliamentary elections in Tehran Mohammad Reza Aref, center, and his wife Hamideh Moravej Farshi cast their ballots at a polling station in northern Tehran, Iran, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. Iranians were voting on Friday in parliamentary elections, the country’s first since its landmark nuclear deal with world powers last summer. At the same time as parliamentary elections, Iranians are also voting for the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body empowered to choose or dismiss the country’s supreme leader. AP

TEHRAN, Iran — Reformists and moderate conservatives are leading in the race for parliament according to early election results, an indication President Hassan Rouhani may face a more friendly house to pursue his domestic agenda.

Early returns Saturday morning from Friday’s parliamentary polls show that none of the three competing political factions will win a majority alone in the 290-seat parliament but reformists seeking greater democratic changes are heading to win their strongest presence in parliament since 2004 at the expense of hard-liners.

READ: Polls open in Iran’s parliamentary elections

Officials are yet to release early results but reports in the semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies and a count conducted by The Associated Press show that hard-liners are the main losers of the vote.

Friday’s election for Iran’s parliament and a powerful clerical body known as the Assembly of Experts was the first since Iran’s landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year.