Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, who led the list of pro-reform nominees for the Tehran City Council election back in May, was informally elected as chairman of the incoming council on Saturday.
The election will have to be conducted officially when the new council hold its first session on Sept. 1.
The 21-member council voted unanimously to elect Rafsanjani, after Morteza Alviri and Ahamd Masjed Jamei dropped out of the race. Mehr News Agency quoted sources within the council as saying that both Alviri and Masjed Jamei decided not to run “for the sake of unity in the ranks of reformists.”
Rafsanjani, son of former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, received the highest number of votes during the May elections.
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