Iranian voters fed up with economic straits worsened by Western sanctions decided their next parliament in elections yesterday seen as a test of support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The nationwide poll to fill the 290 seats in the Parliament, known as the Majlis, was the first since Mr Ahmadinejad’s disputed 2009 re-election that prompted opposition cries of fraud.

While that re-election sparked widespread protests brutally put down by security forces, yesterday’s poll passed off with no reports of disturbances or demonstrations, according to police.

The only political struggle this time was between two conservative currents: those backing Mr Ahmadinejad, and those despising him for perceived nationalist intentions challenging their Islamic vision.

Iran’s main opposition and reformist parties were boycotting the poll, with their leaders languishing under house arrest for the past year. The regime, worried about its legitimacy if many disenfranchised reformist supporters with no real candidates to vote stayed away, urged the country’s 48 million voters to participate to send a message of defiance to the West.

The interior ministry announced late yesterday extensions to voting hours, up to 9 p.m. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said as he cast his ballot early in the day that a high turnout would reinforce “the future, prestige, security and immunity of the country.” The poll outcome will help set the political scene for next year, when Mr Ahmadinejad has to step down, having reached his term limit.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who has taken his distance from Ayatollah Khamenei, was reported by the Isna news agency as saying Iran would have a “good” next parliament – “should the election result be what the people want and be how they cast their votes in the ballot boxes.”

Several people said they voted to show the West that Iran could not be pushed around. But more said the principal issue was the difficulties they face in Iran’s economy, which is struggling with high inflation and unemployment, and Western sanctions imposed over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.

Some university students called the poll a “sham” and said they did not vote. Other students affirmed that, no matter the number of abstentions, officials would announce a high turnout.

One, Azin, said the regime was “fundamentally flawed” in the way it ruled. “They already decide my fate; why should I vote? It makes no difference.”