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There was a heavy crisis going on, because the conservative vetting body, Council of Guardians, banned many of the reformists, and specially the members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), from running. In many of the regions, there wasn't even enough independent candidates approved, so the reformists couldn't even form an alliance with them. Out of a possible 285 (5 seats are reserved for non-muslims), the participating reformists parties could only introduce 191 candidates. Some reformist parties like the IIPF announced that they won't participate.
While many of the reformist social and political figures, including Shirin Ebadi, had asked people not to vote, the official turnout statistics was about 51%. Even in Tehran and its suburbs, where the non-partipation was the most popular, 28% voted.
The day before the election, the reformist newspapers Yas-e-no and Shargh were banned.
The preliminary results of the elections show a victory by the conservatives. A basic comparison of the lists indicates that even among the seats where the reformist alliance had a candidate, only 28% (30 out of 107) were elected.
