Larijani elected Iran’s new parliament speaker; Reports indicate he would give a tough fight to Ahmadinejad in the elections in 2009
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    • Members of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) elected Ali Larijani as the permanent speaker on June 1. Mr. Larijani, who was the only candidate for the post, won 237 votes out of a total of 259 cast in the 290-member legislature1. He had won the parliamentary seat from Qom in the March general elections without any contest for a 4-year term.

    After his election, Larijani indicated that there would be a strong supervision of the work of the government of President Ahmadinejad2. Larijani had resigned as the country’s top nuclear negotiator last year over differences with Mr. Ahmadinejad. Reports indicated that Mr. Larijani, a conservative heavyweight, would give a tough fight to the incumbent candidate in the next presidential elections scheduled for 2009. Though the Speaker of the Majlis is a very important post, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, will have the final word on state matters. For instance, Khamenei had intervened after the previous speaker Gholamali Hadad Adel had complained against President Ahmadinejad’s refusal to put a bill into effect3.

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