The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Tehran

Iranians voted on Friday in an election likely to keep conservatives firmly in control of parliament after unelected state bodies disqualified many reformist foes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the race.

But the next parliament may not give Ahmadinejad an easy ride even if conservatives win. They include not just his allies, but critics of his economic policies and politicians looking beyond this election to next year's presidential poll.

Reformists favoring more political and social freedom had hoped to capitalize on public discontent about inflation, now at 19 percent. But the vetting process and a government crackdown on dissent have muted their challenge. They may struggle to keep the 40 or so seats they held in the outgoing 290-seat assembly.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has effectively endorsed Ahmadinejad and his government, cast his ballot early and urged his compatriots to do the same.

"For our country and our nation it is a sensitive day and a sensitive moment that will determine the (nation's) fate," he said, voting soon after polls opened at 8 a.m. (12:30 a.m. EDT). Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad or parliament, has the last word on major policy issues such as the dispute over a nuclear program which the West suspects has a military goal and is not just for civilian power generation as Tehran says.