Iran's former speaker re-elected to head new parliament
TEHRAN. June 5. KAZINFORM Iranian lawmakers re-elected Ali Larijani, speaker of the 8th Majlis (Parliament), as head of the 9th Majlis, eight days after the fresh assembly was inaugurated, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.
Out of the 270 ballots cast in the parliament, 177 went to Larijani and his rival Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel won 89 votes. Four votes were blank.
In a message read in the opening ceremony of Iran's 9th Majlis on May 28, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed the Iranians' participation in the recent parliamentary elections and said that the inauguration of the new Iranian legislature is a " powerful message by which the Iranian nation addresses the contemporary world."
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Iranian government and the parliament should cooperate to materialize the values of the Islamic revolution.
Ahmadinejad said that cooperation between the government and the parliament was necessary to withstand the pressure by the country's enemies.
The run-off contest of the Iranian parliamentary elections was concluded on May 4 after which 290 Majlis seats were decided.
According to earlier reports, in the new parliaments, loyalists to Khamenei and powerful clerics have won the majority of votes.
Source: Xinhua