Analysts say the election is unlikely to foreshadow a history-making moment of change in Iran, according to an article published in the Washington Post.
Conservatives are once again expected to dominate parliament and other government bodies. At stake are 290 seats in the parliament, or Majlis, an institution with limited powers. A hardline body known as the Guardian Council disqualified more hopefuls than ever before in the 37 years since the Islamic revolution.
The election also will determine the Assembly of Experts, a uniquely Iranian council of 88 mostly elderly clerics who are nominally charged with selecting the next supreme leader if the ailing, 76-year-old Khamenei dies in the next eight years of the assembly’s term.
Parliamentary elections in Iran rarely alter the country’s fundamental policies.
Khamenei has sent out mixed signals to voters about the importance of voting. Last month, the supreme leader urged even citizens who do not approve of his leadership to take part at the country’s 60,000 polling places. More recently, however, he rallied conservatives by warning that the West is plotting to influence the contest and predicted Iranians would vote in favor of maintaining an anti-West posture.
The supreme leader, who has the final say in all important government decisions, signed off on the nuclear deal but has ruled out a rapprochement with the United States.

This article has been extracted from a Washington Post article published on 26 Feb 2016