Rafsanjani takes over Iran’s top constitutional body

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Sep. 04 – A senior cleric was appointed as the new head of a key Iranian constitutional supervisory body on Tuesday, state media announced. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 04 – A senior cleric was appointed as the new head of a key Iranian constitutional supervisory body on Tuesday, state media announced.

Iran’s former President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was elected as the new chairman of the Assembly of Experts (AE).

The Assembly of Experts, an 86-member exclusively clerical body entrusted with the task of selecting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, had been without a chairman following the death of Ayatollah Ali Meshkini on July 30.

Rafsanjani was elected as chairman with 41 votes, according to the official news agency IRNA. The head of the Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati came second with 34 votes.

In February, Meshkini had been re-appointed as head of the AE amid speculation that he would forego the position to Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani along with another hard-line cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, were both until now the constitutional body’s vice-chairmen.