Conservatives win majority in Tehran council

Conservative candidates, among them four Olympians, won a majority in the election for Tehran's 31 municipal councillors, Iranian media reported today.
The elections to choose 207,000 councillors for cities, towns and villages across Iran were held on Friday along with the presidential vote won by moderate conservative Hassan Rowhani.
Newspapers variously reported 17 or 18 conservatives winning seats in Tehran, among them Mehdi Chamran, the conservative who heads the outgoing city council.
Others included Olympic Taekwondo champion Hadi Saei, two Olympic wrestlers, Ali Reza Dabir and Abass Jadid, and Olympic weightlifting champion Hossein Rezazadeh.
Among the reformists who clinched seats was classical singer Abdolhossein Mokhtabad. Three women were also elected.

The authorities had barred a number of reformists from running, including Mohsen Hashemi, the son of moderate ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Also barred was Massoumeh Ebtekar, the first Iranian female vice president, who was appointed during the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami between 1997 and 2005.
More than 2.78 million votes were cast in the local poll, Tehran governor Essa Farhadi was quoted by the media as saying. The city has a population of more than eight million. The outgoing council was also dominated by conservatives.