Iran assembly holds first post-poll session

TEHRAN

Iran’s parliament holds its first session after March 2 parliamentary election. 224 parliamentary seats out of 290 have been filled through the election. AP photo

Iran’s new parliament, which held its first session after the elections yesterday, will be largely dominated by conservatives who support supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, according to latest results.

The parliament will have about half of its current members replaced by newcomers, many of whom ran on an “independent” ticket. But the complex structure of Iran’s politics and the uncertainty over factional allegiances and personal alliances make it difficult to predict the equilibrium of the newly elected lawmakers, who are divided between supporters and critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to official figures on the parliament’s website, 224 parliamentary seats out of 290 have been filled through March 2 election while 63 others, including 25 in the capital, will be decided in a run-off vote.

The fate of three other seats remains unknown. The largely marginalized reformists, who had mainly boycotted the elections, lost most of their seats, only hanging on to 19 out of their 60 in the current parliament.

During the session there was no immediate move to summon Ahmadinejad. On Feb. 7 Iran’s parliament decided to summon Ahmadinejad for questioning over a long list of accusations, the first such summons of an Iranian president since 1979. Under the law Ahmadinejad can appear at parliament to answer the questions within one month.

Compiled from AFP and AP stories by the Daily News staff.