国际英语新闻:Iran starts candidate registration for parliamentary elections

TEHRAN, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Sunday began registration of the candidates for the upcoming legislative elections amid the mounting pressures of the United States on the country's vital economic sectors.

The 11th round of parliamentary elections in Iran is slated for Feb. 21, 2020, four years after the previous one in 2016.

The registration of the candidates on Sunday began in the Iranian Interior Ministry in the capital Tehran, provincial governorates across the country as well as Iran's embassies, consulates and political missions abroad.

Parliamentary hopefuls could get their names registered for the race by Dec. 7.

Iran's Guardian Council of Constitution, the vetting body for elections, will qualify the credentials of the registered people for the election race.

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee, spokesman for the council, suggested on Sunday that his institution could be less strict on the evaluation of the qualification of the candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Iran's parliament, or the Majlis, is made up of 290 members.

As with the past elections, the hotbed of competition over the parliament seats will be divided between conservatives and reformists.

According to local reports, the reformists currently occupy 41 percent of the parliament seats, while the conservatives are in possession of 29 percent of the seats. The rest belongs to the independents and minorities.

In the past two years, the Iranians have experienced high rate of inflation, unemployment and recession of the economy, partially, because of the sanction pressures by the United States.