In fear of escalating crises, especially on the eve of the sham election to replace the now-dead Iranian regime president Ebrahim Raisi, regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei reappointed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as the Speaker of the Majlis (parliament) for another year. In the staged voting session of the Majlis held on Tuesday, presided over by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Ghalibaf was elected with 198 votes as the Speaker of the Majlis.
The other candidates were Mojtaba Zonnour and Manouchehr Motaki, who received 60 and 5 votes, respectively. According to state media, 24 votes were invalid.
The farce of the 24 invalid votes, which is nearly five times the votes of Motaki, indicates the hidden infighting that Khamenei had warned the newly elected parliament members about in his message yesterday.
Part of Khamenei’s message to the parliament on May 27, 2024:
“A point I always emphasize is that the parliament should be calming, inspiring hope, and promoting unity and brotherhood in the general environment of the country. Within the parliament itself, useless media competitions and harmful political disputes should not consume the short time of responsibility; otherwise, the valuable capacity of the representatives in this high position will be wasted, which is a great loss. Another point is about the oath of representation. This oath is not ceremonial; it is a true and responsible oath that will hold one accountable in this world and the hereafter. Honorable representatives must always keep every part of this religious oath in mind and consider adherence to it as the criterion for judging their performance.”
In the Tuesday parliament session, Ali Nikzad and Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee were appointed as deputy speakers of the Majlis.
In this session, Ghalibaf, in his speech, reiterated Khamenei’s advice to avoid internal conflicts and tried to lecture new parliament members on how to vote.
Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Majlis, May 28, 2024:
“The Supreme Leader has outlined the main direction of the parliament in his message. The twelfth parliament should base its main approach on these guidelines. The wise Leader of the Revolution has set calmness, hope, and the invitation to unity in the public environment and the avoidance of useless media competitions and harmful political disputes within the parliament as the foundation of the twelfth parliament’s actions.
“We must all be careful that any side issues, media competitions, or political disputes are against calmness and hope and against the explicit guidelines of the Leader of the Revolution.
“I will first conduct a test vote so that friends who are here for the first time can practice.
“Just practice so that you can vote. I will wait for any issues you have to be resolved.”
The Setareh Sobh newspaper wrote about the infighting over the Majlis speakership: “Ghalibaf and Zonnour should explain what the eleventh Majlis did for the nation that now these two want to sit on the chair of the twelfth Majlis and once again harm the people? These gentlemen and their like-minded colleagues in the eleventh Majlis, along with the government, played a role in eliminating the 42,000-rial currency allocation for essential goods. This policy caused the prices of all goods, especially essential and basic goods, to more than double since 2021, the national currency’s value to be halved, and inflation and high prices to afflict the people. Shouldn’t this tragedy be addressed?”