Rafsanjani Avoids Runoff in Tehran

Former Iranian president and conservative standard-bearer Hashemi Rafsanjani scraped into the new parliament today, state television said.

Iranian TV, monitored by the BBC, said Rafsanjani had won the last of 30 seats for the capital, Tehran, with 25.587%--just over the threshold needed to claim a seat without a runoff.

The last of the results of the Feb. 16 election had hung in the balance as officials tried to resolve alleged irregularities amid accusations of ballot-rigging in parts of Tehran seen as Rafsanjani strongholds.

Rafsanjani is a standard-bearer for the conservative clerics who have been drubbed in the election.

But some reformers had feared a backlash from conservatives still in charge of institutions not controlled by the reformist president or parliament if the pragmatic Rafsanjani, once the most powerful man in Iran, lost his seat.

President Mohammad Khatami’s allies clinched almost all the capital’s seats, on top of a strong showing in the provinces, in what is seen as a ringing endorsement of liberal reforms.

The top three candidates, according to television reports, were the president’s brother, Mohammed Reza Khatami, with 61.21%; Jamileh Kadivar, the sister of imprisoned clerical dissident Mohsen Kadivar, with 47.01%; and Alireza Nouri, the brother of another imprisoned cleric, Abdollah Nouri, with 45.83%.

Rafsanjani told worshipers at Tehran’s Friday prayers that the big turnout proved the enduring strength of the Islamic revolution, and warned the United States not to expect concessions from Iran in the wake of the reformist win.