By Zahra Hosseinian
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Conservatives were set to keep theirhold on Iran's parliament, early election results showed, butthe legislature may still give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aharder time ahead of next year's presidency poll.
Conservatives have taken 120 seats in the 290-memberassembly against 46 for reformists so far, the state Press TVstation has reported, citing the Interior Ministry.
In another indication of conservative dominance after manyleading reformists were barred from running, conservatives wereahead for all of Tehran's 30 seats as counting progressed,state media reported on Sunday.
"The people have again given (conservatives) control ofparliament," the hardline Kayhan daily said on its front-page.
The Interior Ministry, which supervised Friday's vote, hassaid a final nationwide tally might not come out until Monday.
Many reformists, trying to capitalise on public discontentover inflation, were disqualified from standing in the polls,but they expect Ahmadinejad to undergo sharper scrutiny even ina parliament dominated by their conservative rivals.
"The president will face more challenges with the nextparliament than he did with the current one," said Mohammad AliAbtahi, a close ally of reformist ex-President MohammadKhatami.
Analysts said splits had opened up among conservatives --who range from Islamic revolutionary radicals, likeAhmadinejad, to his more pragmatic critics -- and divisionscould widen as they jockey for position before the 2009presidential race.
Reformists, who seek political and social change, and someconservatives have accused Ahmadinejad of fuelling inflation,now at 19 percent, by lavishly spending Iran's windfall oilrevenues on subsidies, loans and handouts.
VICTORIOUS
Conservatives, who call themselves "principlists" for theirloyalty to the Islamic Republic's ideals, passed Ahmadinejad'sspending plans in the outgoing parliament, which theydominated.
Pro-reform politicians have also rebuked Ahmadinejad forvitriolic speeches that have kept Iran on a collision coursewith the United Nations over Tehran's disputed nuclear plans.
However, Ahmadinejad has won public backing from Iran's topauthority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who hasexplicitly endorsed his handling of the nuclear row.
The Interior Ministry put turnout at roughly 60 percent ofthe Islamic Republic's 44 million eligible voters.
The government had called for a high turnout as a show ofdefiance for Iran's "enemies" in the West. Reformists had alsourged their supporters to dent conservative power by voting.
"The United States was the real loser and it was theIranian people ... who emerged victorious," Foreign Ministryspokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.
The United States, Iran's harshest Western critic, said thevetting process for candidates meant the outcome of voting inthe world's fourth largest oil-producing country was "cooked".
The Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists, barredmany reformists when it screened potential candidates oncriteria such as commitment to Islam and the clerical system.
Washington has led international efforts to penalise Iranfor failing to allay suspicions that it is seeking nuclearweapons. Tehran says its nuclear programme is purely civilian.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Writing by FredrikDahl; Editing by Matthew Jones)
