Iran's reformist-backed candidates and independents allied with President Hassan Rouhani have won sweeping victories in parliament and the assembly that appoints the country's supreme leader.
The results of Iran's first national elections since last year's landmark nuclear deal broadcast Monday on state TV show reformists who favor closer cooperation with the West won at least 85 seats, including all 30 seats in the capital, Tehran, while moderate conservatives won 73 seats, The Associated Press reported. Combined, that gives them a majority in the country's 290-seat parliament.
Hardliners who opposed last summer's nuclear deal brokered with the United States and other world powers won only 68 seats.
In Tehran, two ultra-conservative ayatollahs, Mohammad Yazdi, the current chairman, and Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, who played a crucial role in the rise to power of former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, lost their seats in parliament, The Guardian's Iran correspondent reported.
Other incumbent hardliners also lost their seats.
Iran MP who said Iran nuclear negotiators should be buried in cement poured in plutonium reactor core lost his seat https://t.co/jy2s2Z0ae4— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 29, 2016
In #Tehran, even lead conservative candidate for parlment Haddad Adel couldn't win a seat.
(Picture: Parlmnt today) pic.twitter.com/qc8Lck10cW— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) February 29, 2016
Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said turnout was 62%, meaning about 33 million Iranians went to the polls.
Iran on the 'upswing'
The elections were the first since international sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for Tehran halting its nuclear program. Some believe the results mark a turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic.
"The biggest achievement of this election is the return of reformists to the ruling system ... so they won't be called seditionists or infiltrators anymore" by hardliners who strongly opposed the nuclear deal, said an editorial in reformist newspaper Mardom-Salari, whose managing editor, Mostafa Kavakebian, won a parliamentary seat in Tehran, according to Reuters.
Western analysts seemed to agree. In a note to subscribers, Ian Bremmer, a geopolitical expert and president of global political risk research firm Eurasia Group, said that the results of the elections showed "Iran is on the upswing and politically stable."
"Tehran is implementing all the terms of the nuclear agreement," he wrote, while Rouhani "is making the rounds to reestablish and deepen political ties and attract investment.
The World Economic Forum, citing several economic analysts, said the reformist candidates' win opens the way for changes to economic policy that will boost foreign investment and trade with the West.
Summing up the results, Bremmer added that "hard line conservatives will push back, but the latest developments in Iran are promising."
One of those promising developments was the number of women who reportedly won seats in Iran's male-dominated parliament.
Reporters are predicting as many as 20 women could win seats in #IranElections2016. Historic, record-breaking figure https://t.co/woiSkLluzu— Golnar Motevalli (@golnarM) February 28, 2016
Reformist Fatemeh Hosseini, 30, youngest elected in #IranElections2016
Saw her promoting herself on streets pic.twitter.com/4tH3VffOaS— Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) February 28, 2016
Many in the capital, Tehran, welcomed the results, saying they signaled the start of a new era in Iran.
A cartoon making the rounds on social media symbolized that start. It showed a beam of light shining through a slit in the ceiling of a cell and onto a freshly planted seedling.
Great cartoon by Mehdi Azizi in Ghanoon daily after reformist gains in #IranElections2016 pic.twitter.com/L5JFnMWJqB— Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) February 29, 2016
On Telegram, the popular messaging app used by more than 20 million people in Iran, a message that first went out last week when it became clear reformists would make big gains in the elections was again widely posted, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. It read: "Dear citizens! Attention please, attention please: Tehran is now free."
Additional reporting by The Associated Press.