Rafsanjani Allies Gain in Assembly Election
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Iranian moderates allied with President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s government were the announced winners Thursday of nearly all seats on a constitutional body in elections in which many of their radical opponents were excluded.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, said only 1.8 million of Tehran’s 10 million residents voted.
Rafsanjani, leader of Iran’s so-called pragmatists, was among the key members elected to the 83-member Assembly of Experts, whose main task is to elect the nation’s spiritual leader and interpret the constitution.
Most radicals were prevented from running after the government said they had to sit for a test on their Islamic credentials, an apparent effort by the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current spiritual leader, and Rafsanjani to reduce the radicals’ influence.
Most of the radicals who took the examination flunked.
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