Iran to hold parliamentary runoffs on April 29

Nearly a quarter of parliamentary seats to face second-round ballot following last month’s surge by reformists

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran will hold runoff elections for nearly a quarter of the seats in parliament on April 29.

The official IRNA news agency on Monday quoted Interior Ministry official Ali Pourali Motlagh as saying that 138 candidates will compete for 69 seats. Eight women will compete in the runoff elections.

Last month, reformists and relative moderates allied with President Hassan Rouhani won a majority in the 290-seat assembly and in a clerical body charged with choosing the next supreme leader, the Assembly of Experts.

The results were seen as a major setback for hard-liners opposed to the nuclear agreement reached with world powers last year, which lifted many international sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear activities.