Iranians voted on Friday in an election likely to keep conservatives firmly in control of parliament after unelected state bodies disqualified many reformist foes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the race.
But the next parliament may not give Ahmadinejad an easy ride even if conservatives win. They include not just his allies, but critics of his economic policies and politicians looking beyond this election to next year's presidential poll.
Reformists favouring more political and social freedom had hoped to capitalise on public discontent about inflation, now at 19 percent. But the vetting process and a government crackdown on dissent have muted their challenge. They may struggle to keep the 40 or so seats they held in the outgoing 290-seat assembly.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has effectively endorsed Ahmadinejad and his government, cast his ballot early and urged others to do the same.
"For our country and our nation it is a sensitive day and a sensitive moment that will determine the (nation's) fate," he said, voting soon after polls opened at 8 a.m. (0430 GMT).
Khamenei, not Ahmadinejad or parliament, has the last word on major policy issues such as the international dispute over a nuclear programme which the West suspects has a military goal and is not just for civilian power generation as Tehran says.
The Supreme Leader usually stays above the political fray, but Khamenei has urged voters to favour the government.
Food prices, not foreign policy, are what most Iranians worry about in the world's fourth-largest oil producer.
"I hope this time they do a better job and pay more attention to the economy, the housing problem and inflation," said Soraya Tavasoli, a middle-aged woman backing conservatives.
IRAN'S "ENEMIES"
