(Reuters) Parisa Hafezi and Hashem Kalantari - Loyalists supporting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei won over 75% of seats in Iran's parliamentary elections at the expense of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a near-complete count showed. The widespread defeat of Ahmadinejad supporters is expected to reduce the president to a lame duck after he sowed divisions by challenging the authority of Khamenei. "The establishment is under Western pressure and does not want to look divided," said analyst Babak Sadeghi. "Ahmadinejad will finish his term as a weak executive."
2012-03-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive