Iranian former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani casts his ballot at a polling station in Tehran on February 26, 2016.

Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday urged all factions to work together after initial election results showed the veteran powerbroker leading polls to become one of Tehran’s delegates to the influential Assembly of Experts.

“The competition is over and the phase of unity and cooperation has arrived,” state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying. “The time after elections is the time for hard work to build the country”.

Rafsanjani’s allies, including President Hassan Rouhani, also performed well in the Assembly of Experts vote in Tehran. The assembly is responsible for choosing the Islamic Republic’s highest authority, the supreme leader.

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