17 February 2016, 14:36 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (04:30 GMT) and will close at 6 p.m. to elect a new parliament consisting of 290 members who will be in power for four years.
Some 4,850 candidates have registered to participate in the parliamentary election in Iran, according to the Iranian Central Election Commission’s estimates.
The Guardian Council of the Constitution allowed 159 candidates to run in the Assembly of Experts' election. Only 88 of them will be elected for an eight-year term by over 55 million Iranian nationals.
Two of Iran's major political forces — the hardliners already in power and moderate reformists — will be competing to shape the political future of the Islamic republic.
During Iran’s previous parliamentary elections in 2012, a total of 5,405 candidates were registered and over 3,300 of them were admitted to the actual elections. Only nine of those elected into the parliament were women.
