May 26, 2018
The Tehran City Council has overwhelmingly elected Mohammad-Ali Afshani, a little-known Reformist, to be the new mayor of Tehran.
Afshani is a member of the Central Council of the National Trust Party, which was founded by Mehdi Karrubi a former Majlis speaker who has been under house detention since 2011.
In the 22-member City Council, Afshani, 59, won 19 votes to three cast for Samiollah Makarem-Hossaini, who has been the acting mayor the past several weeks. The city Council earlier reviewed several candidates and decided to consider only those two.
Afshani is currently the deputy interior minister for urban development. Earlier, he was governor general of Fars province under President Rohani. He was born in Kohgiluyeh va Boyer Ahmad province.
Afshani replaces Moham-mad-Ali Najafi, 66, who resigned under confused circumstances after less than a year on the job. Najafi said he was resigning for health reasons, but most of the capital believed he was pressured by hardliners to leave office.
The City Council last month voted to reject his resignation, but Najafi insisted he was leaving for health reasons and the Council finally accepted his resignation.