TEHRAN – One year after the current parliament started its work, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was reelected as parliament speaker on Tuesday.

Qalibaf won 230 votes for the post. His rival, Fereydoun Abbasi, only garnered 18 votes.

Abbasi, a nuclear physicist, is the head of the parliament’s Energy Committee.

Qalibaf had also won 230 votes in the 290-seat parliament which was held last year on May 29.

Last year, Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi and Ali Nikzad were also elected as the first and second deputy speakers respectively. However, this year Qazizadeh Hashemi did not seek the post of vice speaker because he has been confirmed by the Guardian Council to contest the June presidential elections.

In the Tuesday voting, Nikzad, who represents Ardabil in the parliament, was elected as first deputy speaker by winning 206 votes and Abdolreza Mesri, who represents Kermanshah, won 205.  

In Ahmadinejad’s second administration Nikzad and Mesri served as ministers. Nikzad was the minister of housing and transport and Mesri the minister of labor and social welfare.

PA/PA