Ali Larijani new head of the Iranian parliament

Ali Larijani was elected as the speaker of Iran’s 290-member parliament during an open session of the Majlis on Tuesday.

Larijani, who will serve a one-year term in the new principlist-dominated parliament, won 177 votes out of 270 votes cast.Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, his only rival to Larijani, won 89 votes.Four votes were blank.

Larijani, who headed the eighth Majlis during the past four years, had already been elected acting speaker of the ninth Majlis. The opening ceremony of the ninth Majlis was held last week, with a message from Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The new parliament was sworn in on May 27. It is the ninth parliament since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Larijani, a lawmaker from the Qom Constituency, held the post of parliament speaker in the eighth parliament.

In the eighth parliament, the competition was again between Larijani and Hadad-Adel. In that competition Larijani won 237 votes.

Hadad-Adel served as Majlis speaker in the seventh parliament. Hadad-Adel was the chairman of the Majlis Cultural Committee in the previous parliament.

Hadad-Adel, a cultural figure, won the highest number of votes in the March 2 parliamentary election in Tehran.

Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabifard and Mohammad Reza Bahonar were also elected as the first and second deputies of the parliament speaker respectively during Tuesday’s session.

Two hundred and thirty-two MPs voted in favor of Aboutorabifard, and 179 lawmakers voted for Bahonar.