Qalibaf Takes Over as Parliament Speaker

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was elected on Thursday as the speaker of Iran’s new principlist-majority parliament following the group’s election victory in February. The former Tehran mayor and three-time presidential contender won the overwhelming support of conservative lawmakers during Thursday’s open session with 230 out of 264 votes, ISNA reported. His rivals for the title, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani and Mostafa Mirsalim, garnered 17 and 12 votes, respectively. Qalibaf is replacing Ali Larijani who had served as speaker of the legislature for over a decade. Larijani was immediately appointed as a member of Expediency Council and an advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Conservatives Amir Hossein Qazizadeh and Ali Nikzad were elected first and second deputies to Qalibaf. The new parliamentarians were sworn into office during Wednesday’s inaugural session. A former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, the 58-year-old Qalibaf has served as Iran’s police chief and was the mayor of Tehran for 12 years. He resigned from his military posts in 2005 to unsuccessfully run a presidential campaign. Following his victory as the new speaker of the parliament, Qalibaf thanked fellow members for the vote and wrote on his Twitter page, “I remind myself and every lawmaker to safeguard this responsibility.” Qalibaf is set to address the parliament’s next session on Sunday. Over 24 million out of 58 million eligible voters participated in the 11th round of parliamentary elections, which is the lowest turnout in the past 40 years. A second round of elections, which was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be held in September to fill the 11 remaining seats of the 290-member Majlis.