TEHRAN – Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf was elected overwhelmingly on Tuesday as the speaker of the new Iranian parliament, securing 198 votes in the 290-seat parliament.

Qalibaf was also the speaker of the previous parliament for four years.

Two other candidates for the post, Mojtaba Zonouri and Manouchehr Mottaki, garnered 60 and 5 votes respectively. 24 votes were also invalid.

287 votes were cast in whole.

Hamidrez Hajbabyee also won 175 votes as the first deputy speaker and Ali Nikzad 169 votes as the second deputy speaker.