TEHRAN – In a meeting of the Islamic Revolution faction on Wednesday afternoon which was attended by 240 principlist legislators, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf garnered 166 votes for the post of the speaker in the new Iranian parliament.

The other three candidates for the post, Hamidreza Hajbabayee, Mostafa Mirsalim and Hassan Norouzi, won 57, 5 and 2 votes respectively.
Also, Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Ali Nikzad won 94 and 93 votes respectively for the post of deputy parliament speaker.
Qalibaf, who served as mayor of Tehran for more than a decade, is widely expected to become officially elected as parliament speaker. He competed with Hassan Rouhani for the post of president in the 2013 presidential election. He again ran for the post in 2017, however he withdrew candidacy in the final hours in favor of Ebrahim Raisi, the current Judiciary chief.
Hajbabayee was education minister in the Ahmadinejad administration. He also acted as MP in the previous years, representing the western city of Hamadan.  
Mirsalim was minister of culture and Islamic guidance during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.  He was also a presidential candidate in the 2017 elections.

PA/PA