Women hold fewer than 10 percent of seats after Iran elections despite big wins for moderates

Female candidates who ran in Iran's elections last week are now confronting disappointment after far fewer women made it into the new parliament than they had hoped.

Only 14 women have secured a seat in parliament, with a nine more facing runoffs in April, Iran's Ministry spokesman Mohammed Hassan Moghimi said Wednesday.

Although the result means five more women have made it into parliament than in the previous election, the candidates had hoped to gain 30 percent of the 290 seats.

If all nine women facing runoffs are successful, the number of women in parliament would total 23, meaning female representation in Iran's parliament would remain at less than 10 percent.

A total of 221 candidates were directly elected after they reached the 25 percent mark, leaving 69 seats contested in the runoffs.

Iran's hardliners were able to hold their ground in several provinces.

President Hassan Rowhani's reformers succeeded in securing all 30 seats in the key constituency of Tehran, ousting several well-known hardliners from parliament, including leading candidate Gholam Ali Hadad Adel.