TEHRAN, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Voting for Iran's 12th parliament and sixth Assembly of Experts ended at 12:00 a.m. Saturday local time after 16 straight hours, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The voting began at 8:00 a.m. Friday local time at 59,000 polling stations across the country, with more than 15,000 candidates competing for 290 seats in the Iranian parliament, and 144 candidates vying for positions at the eight-year-term Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body that oversees the activities of Iran's supreme leader, and is empowered to designate and dismiss the supreme leader.

A total of 61.17 million people, comprising 30.94 million men and 30.22 million women, were eligible to vote in the two elections, according to the Iranian Election Office affiliated to the Interior Ministry.

The voting was initially scheduled to end at 6:00 p.m. local time, but was extended three times, with each extension lasting for a two-hour period.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei cast his vote at a polling station in the Iranian capital Tehran immediately after the voting began.

After casting his ballot, the leader said, "Our dear nation should know that today, the eyes of many people in the world, both individuals and politicians and those who hold prestigious national and political positions, are on Iran and you. They want to see what you are doing in the elections and what will be the results of your elections. Both our friends and those who are interested in the Iranian nation and the ill-wishers," according to a statement published on his website.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cast his ballot at 9:55 a.m. local time at the Interior Ministry's building, after which he told reporters that the people's votes were determining in Iran's Islamic Republic establishment, according to a statement published on the website of his office.

During the voting process, Iran's Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan said no security problem had occurred at any of the polling stations across the country and full security had been ensured, IRNA reported.

Speaking in a live interview with state-run IRIB TV, Iran's Constitutional Council spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif said the turnout would be announced after the end of the voting process.

He added that the Constitutional Council had tasked 230,000 people with the mission of monitoring the polling stations.

The turnout in the previous elections for the Iranian parliament, which was held in 2020, stood at 42 percent, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Enditem

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