TEHRAN -- It is time to increase the latitude of the local councils, Majlis Vice Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar said here on Friday.

The city and village councils deserve to be given greater freedom of maneuver, Bahonar told the Mehr News Agency.

It would be better to give the local councils responsibility for security, health, and other additional issues because they had a good record in carrying out their tasks during the second term of the councils, he said.

The term of the second Tehran City Council officially came to an end on Tuesday.

The MP urged Tehran’s city councilors to put aside their differences, saying, “If the political differences spread to the city council and influence even the mayor’s actions” then, of course, they will face problems in doing their job.

The performance of the two most recent mayors, Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, was very positive, he stated, adding that the development projects that were implemented during Ahmadinejad’s term were continued and improved during Qalibaf’s term.

After Ahmadinejad was elected president, the Tehran City Council elected Qalibaf as the new mayor. A former police chief, Qalibaf also ran in the 2005 presidential election but finished fourth.