By Xinhua,
Tehran : Iran’s new parliament on Sunday officially elected the country’s former chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, as its speaker on a one-year term, Iran’s Press TV satellite channel reported.
During Sunday’s parliament session, Larijani, a lawmaker from the Qom constituency, received 237 votes out of 259 cast in the 290-member legislature, Press TV said.
Larijani, who was elected on Wednesday as “provisional speaker,” was officially voted into the post on Sunday after the Guardian Council issued letters of accreditation for approving the remaining 256 parliament members, the report said.
Larijani has held other prominent posts, including secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the country’s top nuclear negotiator, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and minister of culture and Islamic guidance.
He also ran for president in the ninth presidential contest in 2005.
Iran’s eighth Majlis (parliament) was inaugurated on Tuesday morning with recitation of Quran and playing of Iran’s national anthem.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the inaugural session, saying that parliament and government are brothers and must cooperate in making efforts to meet the Iranian peoples’ needs.
After the two rounds of campaign for the legislative seats in March and April, 69 percent of the total 290 seats in the parliament has gone to the conservatives while only 16 percent has been taken by the reformists.