TEHRAN – Tehran City Council spokesman Ali A’ata has announced that a new mayor for the capital will be elected on November 13, ISNA reported on Sunday.

Members of the Council must nominate five candidates, then the five candidates will discuss their development plans for the urban management of Tehran, A’ata stated.

During a session of the Council on November 11, two candidates will succeed to win the necessary votes to compete for the post of mayor in Tehran, in which they will discuss revitalization plans for the city's future, he further added.

He went on to say that eventually on November 13, candidate who secured the highest number of votes will be appointed as the mayor of the capital.

Pointing out that City council has not elected any potential candidates for the position, he noted that City Council chairman Mohsen Hashemi’s presence among the candidates has not been discussed yet.

The fifth city council election was held simultaneously with the presidential election on May 19, 2017 with reformist securing all 21 seats at the council. 

Since the first session of the fifth Tehran City Council held on August 23, 2017, the council had to elect two mayors. First Mohammad Ali Najafi was named as the mayor who kept the post for almost 7 months and then resigned due to his deteriorating health caused by prostate cancer. 

After Najafi, Samiollah Hosseini Makarem became the caretaker and finally a month later in mid-May Afshani secured the seat as the mayor who is banned from keeping office as he is retired following a law passed by Iranian parliament in September putting ban on employment of the retirees.

And now the council should start the process to elect a new mayor for the urban management of one of the busiest metropolises of Iran for the third time in less than two years.

FB/MQ/MG