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Iran’s Historical Parliamentary Elections Bring More Women Than Clergy

© AP Photo / Vahid SalemiA general view shows Iran's parliament
A general view shows Iran's parliament - Sputnik International
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Voting results published on May 1st show the new Iranian parliament has more women than clerics, with 17 of the former and only 16 of the latter – a dramatic contrast to 1980s.

According to official voting results, 17 women have been elected to the Iranian Parliament, setting a new record for the Islamic republic, with the previous highest number of female MPs being 14. The new female section of the Parliament mostly shares reformist views, while the previous Parliament had only 9 women who shared mostly conservative views.

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What is probably more remarkable is the number of women surpasses that of clergy representatives, with only 16 clerics being elected into the new government. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, clergy has been a major part of the country's political life, with as much as 164 clerics elected in Parliament in 1979. Since then this number steadily declined, reaching only 27 representatives in the outgoing government. This makes the last elections that went in two rounds historical for Iran.

With 290 seats total, 133 seats went to reformists, — who support current President Hassan Rouhani — and 125 to conservatives, with the rest distributed between independents and minorities. There are 136 parties that take part in parliamentary elections in Iran. During the first round of elections that took place in February no party achieved the required 25% of parliamentary representatives.

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