The polls have closed in Iran’s parliamentary election after voting was extended for five hours, and the process of counting ballots has begun.

The polling stations closed at 11:00 pm local time on Friday, March 2, after Iranian election officials extended voting for the ninth parliamentary election, which was originally scheduled to end at 6:00 pm.

Afterwards, Election Headquarters director Seyyed Solat Mortazavi said the results would be announced in 48 to 72 hours.

Officials reported that over 31 million ballots had been cast by 9:00 pm, indicating an overall voter turnout of 64.6 percent.

Over 48 million Iranian citizens were eligible to vote in the election, 3.9 million of them for the first time, Press TV reported.