Mohsen Hashemi Takes Helm at Tehran City Council

TEHRAN (defapress) - Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was elected as the new chairman of Tehran’s City Council by a unanimous vote on Wednesday.

News ID: 65692

Date: 23 August 2017 - 12:13

The first official session of the new City Council of Tehran was held on Wednesday morning after the 21 fresh members took the oath of office.

In a ballot in the meeting, Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani was chosen as the chair of the council with a unanimous vote.

Ebrahim Amini was also elected as the vice-chairman of the council, an influential municipal body that appoints the mayor of Tehran.

In the 5th City and Village Councils elections across Iran in May, candidates in a list known as reformists gained the whole 21 seats in Tehran’s City Council.

The highest number of votes went to Hashemi, the son of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president and chairman of the country’s Expediency Council who died in January.

The top figure of the list has garnered 1,746,568 votes.

According to Article 7 of the Iranian Constitution, the local councils, together with the parliament, are "decision-making and administrative organs of the State”.