Iran is holding national elections Friday, as voters choose members of parliament from a list of candidates winnowed down to feature hardliners and conservatives. Midterm elections are also being held for the Assembly of Experts, the clerics who have the power to select the country’s supreme leader.

More than 15,000 would-be candidates had sought to win a four-year term in parliament, officially called the Islamic Consultative Assembly, or Majlis. But the powerful Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, has disqualified thousands of people from running. Many of those who were culled were reformist or moderate candidates. Dozens of them are current members of parliament who are now barred from seeking reelection.

That left more than 7,000 candidates standing for election to Iran’s 290-seat parliament.

Iranians Vote In Parliamentary Election, After 1 Week Of Campaigning

Image credit: Marjan Yazdi for NPR