By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 17, 2008

TEHRAN, March 16 -- Iranian politicians from the same faction that backed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared set to win a majority of seats in parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results released Sunday.

The latest figures reported by state television showed that 113 of the seats already decided in voting for the 290-member parliament were won by candidates belonging to this group.

Twenty-nine percent of the vote went to supporters of former president Mohammad Khatami, who are seeking some democratic changes, and independents. Many candidates from these groups had been blocked from participating and some called the vote predetermined.

More than 65 percent of eligible voters took part in the elections, authorities said. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, thanked the country for "foiling Western propaganda plots" against the elections, which were Friday.

Final results, except for some expected runoffs, will be announced Monday.

"The turnout could have been higher," said Nader Talebzadeh, a candidate who backs Ahmadinejad but did not win a seat. "This was a warning that we should listen more to the demands of the people."

The large victory for the faction, which shares the president's ideology, does not mean the Iranian government can now rule uncontested by parliament, analysts say. High inflation and a widening gap between rich and poor are forcing the "principalists," as these candidates call themselves, to take a less dogmatic tack in assisting the poor and propagating the role of Islam in daily life.

"People have to drive cabs as a second job to make a living," Talebzadeh said. "We should change that."

A smaller, but openly critical, group within the winning faction that proposes a more technocratic approach to governing appears to have won fewer seats than predicted.

"The parliament will be more serious than before in demanding that problems be solved," said Iraj Jamshidi, a journalist at Etemaad newspaper. "They will put Ahmadinejad in trouble, but in a friendly way."

The majority of members in the outgoing parliament repeatedly blocked candidates from important ministerial posts and amended budget proposals. The new parliament is expected to bring more pressure on such issues as inflation, interest rates and unemployment, analysts say.

Iran's capital of 12 million will probably have runoffs, Deputy Interior Minister Ali Reza Afshar said. This second round, for 16 of Tehran's 30 seats in parliament, will take place in a couple of weeks, he said.

Analysts said they did not expect the country's foreign policy to change dramatically. Khamenei recently lauded the government's defiance in negotiations with the West on Iran's nuclear program. The new legislators are expected to follow his lead.

Several high-profile candidates, including Ali Larijani, the former head of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, won seats. Larijani, who was replaced in October by a close ally of Ahmadinejad, might use his new platform to challenge some of the president's policies.

A newcomer, Morteza Agha Tehrani, is expected to rally the president's supporters in parliament.

Pressure on political opponents will increase, according to Mehrdad Serjooie, an analyst and former parliament reporter. "Supporters of Khatami and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Rafsanjani will have more difficulties," Serjooie said.

Assistants of Rafsanjani, a cleric, former president and one of Iran's main revolutionary figures, have been arrested in the past and charged with espionage. Politicians belonging to his group did not participate in the elections.

Khatami's group entered the race, but many of his supporters were disqualified, as in the 2004 parliamentary elections.

Ahmadinejad's supporters have criticized Rafsanjani and Khatami for not delivering the promises of the 1979 revolution to Iran's poor. Both were forced into a role opposing the politicians now dominating the government and parliament.