June 22, 2018
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani was re-elected speaker for another year—but not before he got a scare by coming in second in the first ballot.
Three candidates sought the speaker’s post May 30. Mohammad-Reza Aref, the leader of the Reformist bloc in the Majlis, came in first with 123 votes, followed by Larijani with 101 votes and Hamid-Reza Haji-Babai, a member of the hardline faction, with 54.
Since no one obtained a majority, there had to be a second ballot, with Haji-Babai dropped. Larijani then won re-election with 147 votes to 123 for Aref. Aref, in others words, picked up no votes from the hardliners on the second ballot, with almost all the hardliners going with Larijani.
The vote was a good demonstration of the ideological breakdown in the Majlis, with 42 percent flying Reformist colors and just 19 percent declaring themselves hardliners, while the rest stood in between.
Both deputy speakers were re-elected, though with notably fewer votes than either man won last year. Masud Pezeshkian, a Reformist deputy from Tabriz, won re-election as first deputy speaker with 157 votes, 22 fewer than last year. Ali Motahari of Tehran, a former Principleist who follows a rather eclectic political line now, won 143 votes, 20 fewer than last year.
Larijani has now been elected speaker 11 years in a row, a record in the Islamic Majlis.
