The reformists were only able to contest half of the 290 seats in parliament after the radical Guardians Council vetoed hundreds of their candidates for being deemed insufficiently qualified to stand.

Only a handful of voters showed up at many polling stations in Tehran on Friday in Iran’s parliament elections, a sign of frustration with a vote that hard-liners allied with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are expected to dominate.

Where lines formed in the capital, it was at a few major mosques, where most voters backed pro-Ahmadinejad candidates.

State media’s efforts
Government officials and the state media made every effort to ensure a massive turnout in order to show national unity at a time of mounting tension with the West over the Iranian nuclear programme. The 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.

Proved wrong
Officials had earlier hoped that there is no repeat of the slack turnout in 2004, when barely half the electorate across Iran voted. But they were again proved wrong with very low turnout this year too, contrary to expectations.

“For our country and our nation this is a critical moment and day,” said supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as he cast his vote in Tehran.

“The election is a time that determines the fate of a nation,” re remarked.

Reformists said the disqualifications in pre-election vetting mean they can only contest half the available seats — practically giving the keys of the parliament to the conservatives. 

Analysts say the outcome of the poll is obvious: hardliners taking control of the parliament and the reformists alowly breaking away from their fragile ideas. But poll observers maintain that reformists will regroup soon.