TEHRAN — Voters in eight provinces cast ballot for the second round of parliamentary elections.

The voting started at 8:00 am (local time) in 3,100 polling places located in 23 counties and 10 constituencies in provinces of Alborz, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Golestan, Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Ilam, and Zanjan.

As part of measures to contain further spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, all voters and the people involved in the elections were obliged to wear face masks and hand gloves and refrain from any gathering outside the polling stations, Press TV reported.

Parliamentary elections were held on February 21, 2020. Over 24 million people took part in the polls with the overall turnout of more than 42 percent.

In the February polls 279 candidates found seats in the 290-member legislature. The second round to elect the 11 remaining seats was expected to be held in April, but was postponed until September due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Friday votes, only 10 seats were up for grabs, as one of the candidates in the Miyaneh constituency in East Azarbaijan province was disqualified.

Now the fate of the Miyaneh constituency, along with that of four other seats – whose occupiers have either died of coronavirus or been disqualified after winning the February votes – will be decided simultaneously in the presidential and council elections in mid-June 2021.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the Friday run-off elections held amid the pandemic will be analyzed so that the country would be prepared to hold the next year’s presidential elections in a glorious way.

“If the coronavirus pandemic lingers on, we will have to consider special conditions, reservations, and requirements for the 2021 presidential elections,” Rahmani Fazli told reporters.

NA/PA