President allies win municipal election in Tehran, most cities

Voters in Tehran overwhelmingly cast their ballots for candidates of the Omid list which was supported by President-elect Rouhani.

Rouhani, the incumbent president of Iran, won a landslide victory in May 19 presidential election obtaining 57% of ballots (over 23.4 million).

Iran's 12th presidential election was held on Friday simultaneously with the city and village council election.

Another list of candidates for the municipal election was the Khedmat (Service) list which belonged to the principlist groups critical of Rouhani.

Rouhani's rivals, supporters of the current mayor of the Iranian capital Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, failed to win the municipal election in Tehran and in most cities.

The defeat of the principlist candidates is also a defeat for the mayor who dropped out of the presidential race in favor of other principlist candidate Ebrahim Raeisi. With a wide margin with Rouhani, Raeisi received over 15 million of votes in the presidential election.

Tehran’s mayor is elected by 21 members of the city council. Therefore, following the victory of the allies of the president-elect in the municipal election, the incumbent mayor has little chance to become elected for another term.

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