1806 Iranian candidates register for parliamentary elections

TEHRAN, Dec. 28 (MNA) - Iran's Deputy Interior Minister, Solat Mortazavi, said on Tuesday that the number of individuals who have so far registered their candidacy for the next Majlis elections has hit 1,806. Mortazavi told that 1,806 individuals submitted their documents by Tuesday afternoon, adding “1649 registrations are finalized and 157 others are not finalized yet.” Elsewhere in his remarks, Mortazavi, head of the election headquarters, referred to the gender distribution of the individuals saying that “94.4 percent of these people are men and the other 5.6 percent are women.” Candidates have until December 30 to register. Officials have emphasized that the deadline will most probably not be extended. The principlist bloc won a majority of seats in the 275-seat legislature in the 2008 parliamentary elections. The next Majlis elections are scheduled to be held on March 2.