Azerbaijan, Baku, March 2 /Trend S.Isayev, D. Khatinoglu/
Former Iranian President, reforminst Mohammad Khatami has casted his vote in parliamentary elections that are currently going on in Iran, Fars reported.
In May, around 700 reformers made up of representatives from different parties registered for participating in the parliamentary elections. Nearly 100 of the 700 registered were well-known representatives of the reformers groups.
The main competition in the elections will be between reformers and conservatives, but, according to opposition media outlets, some political parties, groups and representatives from the camp of reformers said they will not participate.
Earlier today, the Iranian opposition urged people of Iran not to attend the elections with "symbolic polls".
The Kalame website, belonging to reformist leader Mir Hossein Moussavi, said Iranians should stay at home out of solidarity to opposition leaders who are under house arrest - such as Moussavi and fellow reformist Mehdi Karrubi.
Despite this, Iranian people have been very active at today's elections. Thus far no serious violations were obseved at the elections, according to press-secretary of Iran's guardian council Abbasali Kadhudai.
Journalists and reporters from Germany, Austria, Spain, the U.S., Ukraine, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, Turkey, Czech Republic, Russia, France, Japan, Finland, Canada, South Korea, Lebanon and Venezuela are covering the parliamentary elections in Iran.
Over 3,400 candidates compete in the parliamentary elections. The elections take place in 46,062 polling stations. They are held in 14,307 polling stations by using the mobile ballot boxes. According to the law, the parliamentary elections must last 10 hours, but if there is a need, the interior minister may extend the voting time.
The election results may be made public in 48 - 72 hours after the election day (from March 2). For the first time, the electronic voting will be widely used in Iran. The electronic voting takes place in the main polling stations of 14 provinces.
About 48 million people have the right to vote in Iran. According to Iranian News Network, a lot of people have been active in casting their votes at the 9th parliamentary elections in the country.