Mobalegh told a press conference that the number of eligible voters for the 7th president elections, held on May 23, 1997, stood at 36,500,000.

He said that since May 23, 1997, 5,670,000 people have been added to the number of eligible voters for the presidential elections.

He added that Tehran province with 7,643,471 voters and Khorasan with 4,129,936 people have the highest number of voters throughout the country.

He said Ilam province with 325,224 people has the least eligible voters for the presidential elections.

He put the number of constituencies at 37,028, including 18,173 ones in urban and 18,955 others in rural areas.

Elsewhere in the interview, Mobalegh said Foreign Ministry had formed elections headquarters in its representative offices throughout the world to enable Iranians residing abroad to take part in the presidential elections.

He said the first by-elections for the sixth Majlis will be held in nine provinces and 14 constituencies. He added that people would vote for 16 hopefuls.

Mobalegh said elections campaign for the parliamentary by-elections had started on April 30 and will continue until 24 hours before start of the elections.

He put the number of constituencies for the sixth Majlis by-elections at 5,293 and said 3,634 constituencies out of the total are located in urban and 1,659 ones in rural areas.

As for the second round of by-elections for the third Experts Assembly, Mobalegh said that voters should elect two out of 11 contenders from provinces of East Azarbaijan and Qom (one each).

He said elections campaign for the elections have started in the two provinces and will last until 24 hours before start of the elections on June 8.

He said the three elections would be held in 10 hours, starting at 09:00 A.M. on Friday, June 8, and end at 19:00 P.M. local times and would be extended upon approval of the Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari.

He said the minimum age of voters for the 8th presidential elections is 15.

The official said the vote counting will be carried out manually and it is hoped that the tally will be announced as soon as possible.

He said to prevent any violation, one inspector and three supervisors have been assigned to each ballot box by the Guardians Council (GC) to monitor the process.