Iranian Principlists Present Final List of Candidates for Parliamentary Elections

The Council of Islamic Revolution Forces Alliance announced its final list of candidates for the Tehran constituency in the parliamentary elections due to be held later this month.

The former mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who ran for the 12th presidential election in 2017, is at the top of the list.

Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim, one of the six candidates racing for Iran's presidency in 2017, ranks second on the list.

In a statement on Friday, Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, the chairman of the Council of Islamic Revolution Forces Alliance, called on the people of Tehran to vote for the list in the upcoming polls.

The election campaigns officially began in Iran at 00:00 Thursday (20:30 GMT, Wednesday), and will last until the end of next Wednesday, February 19.

The nationwide votes for the parliament and the midterm election of the Assembly of Experts will be held simultaneously on Friday, February 21.

The campaigns for the Assembly of Experts midterm election had already begun on February 6.

A total of 7,148 candidates, including dozens of Iranians from the religious minorities, are running for the parliament. There are 290 seats in the parliament up for grabs.

In capital Tehran, 1,453 candidates are contesting one of the 30 allocated seats on the legislature.

The lawmakers are elected for a 4-year term, with no limitation for the incumbent or former parliamentarians to run again.

Also people in five provinces, North Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars, Tehran and Qom are going to elect 7 candidates running for the midterm election of the 88-member Assembly of Experts, a high-ranking body that elects leader of the Islamic Revolution.

Members of the assembly are directly elected to office by people for an eight-year term. It holds biannual meetings to appoint a new chairman.

Top Iranian officials have repeated calls over the past weeks for a high turnout in the elections.