Parliamentary elections under way in Iran

TEHRAN, March 2 (UPI) -- Iranians voted Friday to select 290 members of the Majlis, the country's Parliament, the first elections since the 2009 presidential contest.

Iranian TV broadcast video of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei voting in Tehran and saying it was the "duty and a right" of Iranians to cast ballots, the BBC reported.

"Because of the controversies over Iran and increased verbal threats, the more people come to the polling stations the better for the country," Khamenei said. "The vote always carries a message for our friends and our enemies."

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, considered a favorite in the elections, said after he voted he hoped for a high turnout, the Fars News Agency reported.

Observers said the election is a contest between the camps of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, who recently had a falling-out. Some of the president's supporters have complained that their candidates were barred from the ballot by the Guardian Council, the Khamenei-controlled panel that vets and approves parliamentary candidates.

The opposition Green Movement is not participating in the elections. Its leaders have been under house arrest since the 2009 vote that turned violent when anti-regime protesters demonstrated against the election's outcome, calling it rigged.

Results were expected Sunday or Monday.