TEHRAN -- Nearly 58 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the parliamentary elections scheduled for Friday, the head of the election headquarters said Wednesday.

"A total of 57,918,000 Iranians are eligible to vote in the upcoming election, of whom 28.8 million are women," Jamal Orf said at a press conference.

And 2.9 million are potential first-time voters, he added.

Only those aged 18 and over are eligible to vote in Iran since January 2007.

The Iranians will go to the polls on Friday to elect the lawmakers for the 290-seat parliament.