Iran counts votes with conservatives seen winning

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran began counting votes on Saturday that are likely to keep conservatives in control of parliament after many opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were blocked from standing in the election.

A conservative dominated assembly could still be critical of Ahmadinejad as politicians manoeuvre before next year's presidential race and home in on his economic policies blamed for rising inflation, the biggest gripe for ordinary Iranians.

The United States, at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear programme, said any result was "cooked" because of a vetting process barring many pro-reform candidates.

But Iran said turnout in Friday's vote, put by one official at more than 60 percent of Iran's 44 million eligible voters, defied Western critics of the Islamic Republic.

Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said some results would be announced on Saturday, but it could take longer in Tehran where 30 of the assembly's 290 seats were fought.

Some anti-Ahmadinejad politicians said their informal exit polls suggested the United Front, the most pro-government group of candidates, was doing well in Tehran, where conservatives hold 26 of the capital's seats in the outgoing assembly.

"The conservatives are closer to the goals of the Islamic revolution and the supreme leader," said Ali Rahbarkhah, a young cleric in Qom, Iran's centre of Shi'ite Muslim learning.

OPEN SUPPORT