Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered a new defeat in the second round of parliamentary elections, where his conservative political opponents won a convincing victory, who also won a large majority in the first round, according to the final results.
Yesterday, 33 out of a total of 65 deputies were elected in the second round in 290 constituencies, and the results show that Ahmadinejad's opponents and supporters of the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei won 41 seats in the parliament, the president's followers 13 seats, and independent candidates 11, reported the Iranian news agency Mehr.
In the second round, voting was also held in Tehran, which needs to fill another 25 parliamentary seats, of which the conservatives secured 16, and the president's followers nine seats.
Tehran gives a total of 30 representatives to the parliament, and five were elected in the first round on March 2.
AP estimates that these results show that Ahmadinejad will face even more pressure in parliament until the end of his second term, which expires in August 2013, and that his allies are likely to be removed from key positions, while his plan to reduce economic subsidies be questioned.
The media in Iran state that a large number of Iranians voted in the second round of parliamentary elections, as in the first round, when the turnout was 64 percent.
The new convocation of the parliament begins on May 27.
Western agencies estimate that Iran's parliament, although it does not have direct control over major political issues in the country, including its nuclear program, could influence the race to elect Ahmadinejad's successor.
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