"Iran's Conservative Dominance: Low Turnout and Reformist Criticism"

Conservative candidates have dominated Iran's parliamentary and religious assembly elections, with preliminary results indicating a voter turnout of around 40 percent, the lowest since the 1979 revolution. Few reformist or moderate voices managed to secure entry into parliament, marking the second consecutive election in which they were largely absent. The elections were marked by discussions around low turnout, with state-linked media reporting approximately 25 million voters, which they hailed as a "huge defeat" for a campaign to boycott the elections. Iran's economy, squeezed by US sanctions, continues to grapple with high inflation, and the rial hit a low of around 600,000 per US dollar in the open market.