TEHRAN: More than 12,000 candidates have signed up for Iranian parliamentary elections to be held in February, the most since the Islamic revolution in 1979, media reports said on Saturday.
The number of people who registered to stand before a Friday deadline was up nearly 70% compared with the previous legislative polls in 2012, the interior ministry said.
Women accounted for 11% of the hopefuls for the 290 seats available in the February 26 vote, up from 8% last time.
The proportion of candidates below the age of 50 increased from 67% to 73%.
The number of candidates is however expected to drop after the Guardians Council vets applications. The final list will be published on February 9.
Voting will be held on the same day as the election for the 86 member Assembly of Experts, which monitors the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, 76.
President Hassan Rouhani, who took office in 2013 on the platform of more social and political freedom, has largely dedicated the first half of his four-year term to nuclear negotiations that culminated in a July deal with major powers.
Rouhani, who faces a re-election battle in 2017, plans to devote the rest of his term to economic and social reforms.
To achieve that, he is hoping for the support of a majority of lawmakers in the next parliament.
Rouhani has faced vocal opposition from conservatives in the current parliament, including on the nuclear deal. Agencies
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