An Iranian man runs worry beads through his hands in front of a photo of the late leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran's Motahari seminery February 17. Iran's reformers were confidant of victory in parliamentary polls heading into the mandatory "quiet period" with campaigning suspended 24 hours before voting begins. The seat for 290 seats in the expanded parliament is widely seen as a referendum on President Mohammad Khatami's programme, to create a civil society within Iran's Islamic system.

DS