Ali Larijani could secure the influential post of parliament speaker for another term due largely to the support from principlists, says a lawmaker.
Larijani, a moderate conservative, won a re-election on May 30 for the eleventh consecutive year after 147 votes were cast in his favor in the 290-seat assembly. His challenger, senior reformist Mohammad Reza Aref, got 123 votes.
In a recent interview with ILNA, Hassan Norouzi said some tend to believe that Larijani is actually in the reformist camp but presents himself as a sympathizer with principlists — a broad faction of politicians who use such a term to express their loyalty to the Islamic Republic's ideals and principles.
"Some were saying that Larijani owes his post to the reformists, but recent developments in parliament showed that he owes his post to the principlists," he noted.
Principlists' Camp
It had been predicted that Larijani would run for the next presidential election on a reformist ticket, he said, adding, "It became clear for everyone that Larijani is indeed in the camp of the principlists."
Some principlists were disappointed that Larijani was unappreciative of their support but the former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council has come to realize the importance of such support, the lawmaker from Robat Karim County in Tehran Province said.
"Not a single MP from among the reformists and the Hope Faction voted for Larijani," in last week’s election for speaker, he said, referring to the parliamentary group headed by Aref.
The cleric is of the opinion that the Majlis speaker's political career can continue only if he stays loyal to the principlists.
Echoing a similar view, Hossein Maqsoudi, the people’s representative from Khorasan Razavi Province, said the message of the sspeaker’s election was that Larijani should not distance himself from the principlists if he wants to continue to have a say in the country's affairs.
"He should be aware that getting closer to reformist groups and their manner of thinking will lead to his elimination from the political and decision-making scene," he stated in remarks carried by Tasnim News Agency. Some analysts attribute Larijani's decade-long tenure as Majlis speaker to his ability to build rapport with both reformist and principlist camps plus his moderate stance on national and international matters, particularly the nuclear issue.
Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator, was a supporter of talks to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff with the western powers.
