© Raheb Homavandi / ReutersAn Iranian woman holding her daughter casts her ballot during elections in Tehran
The new Iranian parliament will see more women than clerics, whose number have reached an all-time low, parliamentary elections results have shown. This is the first time women have outnumbered clerics in the country's history.
According to the official voting results issued on Saturday,
17 women will become members of the 290-seat parliament compared to clerics who only won 16 seats, AFP reports. Although the clerics fall just one seat behind women, their overall number has reached an all-time low.
What is more,
female politicians have beaten their previous record as the highest number of seats they managed to get in the past was just 14. Compared to the previous election,
the number of women almost doubled.
"As a young woman, I ran to inspire women and give them courage to fight for their rights. I ran to play my role in the destiny of the country and stop extremists from capturing seats in parliament," Fatemeh Hosseini, one of the "winners", said as reported by AP.
Comment: It's no wonder the Japanese have been furiously protesting against the U.S. military presence for years: