Iran's dual factions both claim a win

TEHRAN, Iran -- Islamic hard-liners and reformists both claimed victory in Iran's elections Saturday, with returns showing conservatives ahead in the race for parliament but a reformist boycott limiting voter turnout.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the winner of the election was the Iranian nation. He was upbeat about voter turnout, even though it marked a drop from previous elections.

"The loser of this election is the United States, Zionism and enemies of the Iranian nation," he told state media.

A reformist who called for a boycott, Ali Shakourirad, pointed to a voter turnout of less than 30 percent in the capital, Tehran, calling the poll was "a big defeat for conservatives."

Official partial returns also suggested the boycott had an impact, with voter turnout about 15 percent lower than in elections four years ago.

That trend, if it holds, would mark a significant moral victory for liberals who urged a boycott after hard-line clerics barred than 2,400 reformist candidates from running for the 290-seat parliament.

Reformists complained the vote was rigged, and the United States also criticized the disqualifications of candidates including the biggest names in liberal politics. Among them was Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of Iran's reformist president and deputy speaker of the outgoing parliament.

Hard-liners fared poorly in the 2000 elections, losing control of the parliament for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. When the next legislature convenes in June, they should have a comfortable majority.

Results for nearly 60 percent of the legislature gave hard-liners more than 110 seats -- 36 short of the majority they were widely expected to get, the Interior Ministry said.

But with the ballot weighted with conservatives, coupled with the reformist boycott, Islamic hard-liners were likely to win from the start. Voter turnout was the real drama in Saturday's race.

Despite the ministry's early figures, the hard-line Guardian Council, which banned the liberal candidates, insisted turnout was higher than in 2000. It gave no figures.

Other top hard-line officials also declared the election -- in seats and voters.

"The people's blessed and magnificent participation in yesterday's elections foiled plots and guaranteed the country's greatness," Information Minister Ali Yunesi told state-run television.

With half of Iran's 207 districts counted, voter turnout was 43.29 percent, with more than half of Iran's 207 districts counted, the Interior Ministry said. That would mark a noticeable drop from the 67.2 percent in the last parliament elections in 2000.

Top hard-liners also apparently received broad support in including in the reformist stronghold of Tehran province, an Interior Ministry official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At stake was proof of public sentiment: Conservatives hoped people would ignore the boycott, showing the strength of the Islamic state 25 years after the revolution that ousted the secular, pro-Western shah.

Reformists hoped low voter turnout would strengthen their drive for more openness and accountability from the all-powerful theocracy. They also were relying on a high percentage of and aid weight to their complaint that conservatives rigged the vote.

Even before the vote, Rajab Ali Mazrouli, a leading member of the pro-reform Islamic Participation Front, had predicted the low turnout but conceded that hard-liners would probably take control of parliament.

"Most of the winners this time are conservatives," he said. "It was a race without competition."

A victory for conservatives also would consolidate hard-line control at a sensitive time. In Iraq, Shiite Muslims are pressing for early elections and look to predominantly Shiite Iran for backing. The United States and its allies, meanwhile, are questioning Iran's denials about seeking nuclear arms technology.

More than 46 million people ages 15 and over were eligible to vote. Voting was extended for four hours in an attempt to get every last ballot.

State television and radio broadcast a nonstop series of reports and appeals aimed at stirring voters. Senior Islamic clerics described voting as a religious duty.