Conservatives expected to prevail in Iran poll

Iran voted in elections expected to tighten the grip the conservatives have on parliament after a low-key campaign and the mass disqualification of reformist candidates by a hardline vetting body.

Reformists only able to contest about half of the 290 seats up for grabs after the Guardians Council vetoed hundreds of their candidates for being deemed insufficiently loyal to the Islamic revolution.

The sidelining of reformists means it will be difficult to use the vote as a barometer of controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity, despite discontent over inflation rates of almost 18 percent.

Top and state media have made every effort to emphasize the importance of a massive turnout to show national unity at a time of mounting tension with the West over Iran's nuclear program.

State television was playing patriotic music against a backdrop of pictures of Iran's ancient heritage and long queues of people voting in past elections in a bid to show the importance of the election.

"For our country and our nation this is a critical moment and day," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said as he voted in Tehran. "The election is a time that determines the fate of a nation."

Ahmadinejad, who rushed from an Islamic summit in Senegal to vote, proclaimed that the world had chosen Iran as its "role model and savior."

The authorities will be hoping there is no repeat of the slack turnout in 2004, when barely half the electorate voted nationwide and less than 40 percent in Tehran.

"Why should I vote when I am buying rice for 30,000 rials [US$3] a kilo? They have already been elected. They are joking. They've deceived people and will continue to do so," said Seyyed Mohsen, 51, a car dealer.

Reformists their high point between 2000 and 2004 when they controlled parliament and their champion, Mohammad Khatami, was president.

But they were left with only a few dozen seats in parliament after the 2004 elections and the hardline Ahmadinejad took over the presidency a year later.

The two reformist coalitions have been able to field overlapping lists for the 30 seats available in Tehran, but the pre-election vetting seriously hindered their ability to compete nationwide.

Khatami's reformist coalition is fielding only 150 candidates nationwide, while the more centrist National Confidence Party of ambitious cleric Mehdi Karroubi has 165.

"I will vote for the conservatives. Reformists have already proved they cannot govern properly and they did not pass the test," said merchant Mashallah Ghasemi, 64.

The campaign, which only lasted one week, was a muted affair.

The authorities were keen to see as little inter-factional squabbling as possible amid the nuclear crisis with the West and banned groups from putting up large election posters of their candidates.

Results not expected quickly, with officials saying they should be ready by the New Year holidays, which start on Wednesday.

The campaign turned fractious in its final days, when conservatives accused top reformists of harboring excessively close contacts with foreigners.

The spokesman of reformists in the current parliament is in trouble with the intelligence ministry for talking to a US-based Persian channel, while Khatami's brother has been criticized for meeting the German ambassador.

The US is Iran's arch enemy and accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons technology and of meddling in Iraq. It has said it has "very low expectations that people will be able to actually express themselves."