TEHRAN - Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on Tuesday that 55 million people are eligible to vote in the elections on Friday.

Of this number three million are virgin voters, he said in a press conference in Mashhad.

The elections will be held at 52,000 polling stations throughout the country, he said.

The Parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections are scheduled to be held simultaneously on Friday.

The main competition for the 290-seat parliament is between principlists and a coalition of moderate reformists and pro-government candidates.

The principlist candidate list in Tehran is led by Gholam-Ali Hadad Adel, who held the post of parliament speaker between 2004-2008 and is currently the head of the Majlis Cultural Committee. 

Mohammad Reza Aref, a soft-spoken former vice president, also heads the coalition of reformists and moderates. The Aref list also includes two principlists, namely outspoken Ali Motahari and Kazem Jalali.

Kazem Jalali, a veteran MP, is the chair of the Majlis research center.

On Tuesday, First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said the people who voted overwhelmingly for Hassan Rouhani in the 2103 presidential election which put an end to threats against Iran this time are expected to vote for candidates that will grease the “wheels of economy”.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the chairman of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council, also on Tuesday called for a high turnout in election.

Writing in his Instagram, Velayati said, “I hope the dear people of our country by voting for qualified and sincere people who are committed to the principles and ideals of the revolution and Imam (Khomeini) will facilitate the path for progress of the country.”

NA/PA