TIMELINE: Political events since Iran's revolution

(Reuters) - Iranians voted on Friday in a parliamentary election that conservatives are expected to win after many pro-reform politicians who oppose hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running as candidates.

Here is a chronology of the main political events since the revolution and founding of the Islamic Republic:

January 1979 - Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is forced into exile after mounting discontent with his authoritarian rule.

February - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran from Paris after 15 years of exile spent mainly in Iraq and quickly consolidates his power to become Supreme Leader.

June 1989 - Khomeini dies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a former president, is appointed Supreme Leader.

August 1989 - Pragmatic deal-maker Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani becomes president after landslide election win.

May 1997 - Reformist Mohammad Khatami is elected president in surprise and sweeping victory over candidate backed by conservative clerics.

July 1999 - Student unrest turns violent over closure of pro-reform newspaper. Dozens of such newspapers are later shut.

February 2000 - Khatami's pro-reform allies secure a big win in parliamentary election against entrenched conservatives.