Iran heads to the polls for parliamentary elections

Baku. 26 February. REPORT.AZ/ Polls opened Friday in Iran's parliamentary elections, the country's first since its landmark nuclear deal with world powers last summer, Report informs.

The vote is in part seen as a referendum on the policies of moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who is credited with bringing about the deal that curbed Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of crippling international sanctions.

At the same time as parliamentary elections, Iranians are also voting for the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body empowered to choose or dismiss the country's supreme leader.

State TV showed long lines of people waiting to cast their ballots in the twin elections as the polls opened.

Some 53,000 polling stations throughout Iran are taking ballots for the 290-member parliament and the 88-member Experts Assembly. Nearly 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote.

In the parliament vote, reformists seeking greater democratic changes and moderates supporting Rouhani are pitted against hard-liners who oppose the nuclear deal and openings with the West.