31.   It held only four seats in the outgoing parliament.

32.   It is widely thought that the mafias are run by people in top positions, such as Mkhedrioni chief Dzhaba Iosseliani who has a seat in the outgoing parliament.

33.   Meir Shitrit, a Likud deputy in the outgoing parliament, was equally fatalistic.

34.   Only four opposition MPs sat in the outgoing parliament.

35.   Saleh also said that he expected Abdallah al-Ahmar, the speaker of the outgoing parliament, to remain in the post.

36.   Several deputies in the outgoing parliament voted against the division, saying it violated the principle of equality for all citizens.

37.   The AMC, which dominates the political establishment including the outgoing parliament, is the only group which has announced some of its candidates for the Tehran constituency.

38.   The conservatives, who dominated the outgoing parliament, are backed by the ruling Shiite Moslem clergy and merchant classes.

39.   The conservatives, led by the influential speaker of the outgoing parliament Ali Akbar Nategh-Nuri, are staunch enemies of Western liberal democratic culture.

40.   The double defeat is a blow to the Shiite Moslem organisation which hoped to bump up the number of its MPs from eight in the outgoing parliament.