Reformists face defeat in competition over Iranian speakership
Incumbent Ali Larijani won the election between moderates and Reformists for the Iranian parliament’s speakership.
On May 30, in an internal election over the speakership of Iran's parliament, moderate Ali Larijani defeated the leader of the main Reformist parliamentary faction, becoming the speaker for the 11th time in a row — a record in the history of Islamic Republic.
This was the second time that Mohammad Reza Aref, who is the chairman of the Reformists' Hope faction in parliament, entered the competition and refused to reach a consensus with moderates.
Iran's parliament is broadly made up of three main camps: independents, or moderates; the Hope faction, or Reformists; and Followers of the Leader, or hard-liners.
The vote was held twice, because, based on internal law of parliament, if no one gains the absolute majority of votes, the voting goes to a second round. During the first round, Aref managed to obtain more votes than Larijani, but it wasn’t an absolute majority. In the next round, hard-liner Hamid Reza Haji-Babai, who had won 54 votes, withdrew from the competition in favor of Larijani.
