Iran votes in key polls

Iranians voted yesterday in a major test for President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who hopes to curb conservative dominance and provide an opening for domestic reforms after a nuclear deal with world powers.

The Islamic republic's ultimate authority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was among the first to cast a ballot and he urged 55 million eligible voters to do so "quickly, as it's both a duty and a right".

As well as picking 290 members of parliament, the electorate will also vote in a second election to select the Assembly of Experts, a powerful committee of 88 clerics that monitors Khamenei's work.

The polls are especially important as they come just one month after sanctions were lifted under the nuclear accord and the vote's outcome will be seen as a de-facto referendum on Rouhani's administration.

Lawmakers are elected for four years but the assembly has eight-year terms. Should Khamenei, who is 76, die during that time its members would pick his successor.

Observers will be closely watching turnout figures, with higher voter participation expected to benefit moderates and reformers.

Results from outside Tehran were expected within 24 hours but the vote tally in the capital, which has a population of 12 million and is electing 30 lawmakers, will take three days.

Khamenei smiled warmly as he spoke to electoral officials and presented his identity documents before receiving his ballot paper which he posted in a sealed box at 8:09 am.

"We have enemies. Elections should be such that they make the enemy disappointed. We must vote with insight and open eyes," he said.

Iranians could choose to endorse the international outreach started by Rouhani or deliver a stinging rebuke instead.

If voters support the pro-Rouhani list the president could swing the balance of power in parliament and have a chance of passing reforms through legislation on which he has so far been blocked.