Haddad-Adel to run for speaker oof Majlis

Haddad-Adel’s announcement had been long expected.

Larijani has said nothing and it isn’t known if he will seek to keep the speakership.

With a large proportion of the incoming Majlis made up of new deputies, it isn’t clear who will win.  Many deputies in the outgoing Majlis have been disappointed with Larijani.  They have complained about him being arrogant and especially about his running the Majlis as a very tightly-controlled operation demanding too much discipline.

Larijani defeated Haddad-Adel four years ago as many deputies complained that Haddad-Adel had run things very loosely with little structure or discipline.

Some think Larijani will simply retire from the speakership to avoid the chance of a loss while also focusing his efforts on running for the presidency next spring, as he is expected to do.

Haddad-Adel was re-elected to the Majlis from Tehran in March.  He was the sole candidate seeking one of the 30 Tehran seats to get more than half the votes.  He won 52.8 percent while Ali-Reza Marandi came in second with 33.5 percent.