Retention of Motahari and Pezeshkian; Condition of Reformists for Supporting Larijani

Ali Motahari, the second deputy speaker of the parliament, stated that the fate of his candidacy for the deputy speakership will be determined by Wednesday, June 10. Meanwhile, a member of the Supreme Policy Council of Reformists indicated that their support for Ali Larijani's presidency is conditional on the retention of Ali Motahari and Masoud Pezeshkian. According to Tasnim News Agency, Mr. Motahari, speaking on Tuesday, June 9, about the election of the members of the parliament's board for the second year, added that the parliamentary factions are negotiating to prepare a list of board members. The board of the parliament is elected annually, and the election of new board members is scheduled to take place in a public session on Wednesday. According to ILNA, Mahmoud Mirloohi, a member of the Supreme Policy Council of Reformists, announced, "Provided that Ali Motahari and Masoud Pezeshkian, the two current deputies, are not removed, we will support Mr. Larijani for the presidency of the parliament." He added, "However, if such an agreement is not reached, the risk for Larijani increases, and he may receive a low vote, which would not be a good situation. Therefore, it is better for the president of the parliament to be elected by consensus and agreement." The member of the Supreme Policy Council of Reformists emphasized, "Motahari and Pezeshkian are currently considered symbols of reformist and moderate thoughts in the parliament; if this does not happen, it will send an inappropriate message to society and will certainly harm Larijani's vote and impact the parliament's performance." He noted that the Hope faction "has a majority" and added, "When the Hope faction insists on maintaining the three-member composition of the board, others should also help to achieve this." Mr. Mirloohi, in another part of his speech, welcomed the presence of women in the board and deemed the presence of Sunni individuals in the parliament's structures logical, stating that "this should not come at the expense of the two current deputies." According to Mehr News Agency, Abdolreza Hashemzai, a member of the Hope faction, reported on the efforts of this faction for consensus regarding the elections of the parliament's board and said, "Mr. Motahari is our red line in the board elections." Previously, Mohammad Reza Aref, the head of the Hope faction, had referred to Ali Motahari's presence in the deputy speakership as the "red line" of this faction. Abdolreza Hashemzai, referring to the negotiations between the Hope faction and the independents, added, "We have no objections regarding the president and the two current deputies; especially concerning the deputies, Mr. Motahari is our red line." Ali Motahari's request for the removal of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, and his meeting with Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran, has led to protests from supporters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. In this regard, according to ILNA, Mohammad Javad Abtahi, a member of the Stability Front, emphasized the efforts of this principlist faction to prevent Ali Motahari from re-entering the parliament's board, stating, "Our criticism of Motahari is due to his positions that he has taken against the regime, and for this reason, he is not suitable for the position of deputy speaker." Nonetheless, he added, "Certainly, if he is voted for again, we will comply, but we will do our utmost to ensure he is not in the board; however, if our opinion is not realized, we will comply with the rules of the game." Meanwhile, according to Mehr, Abdolreza Hashemzai, a member of the Hope faction, referred to reports of the breakdown of interactions between the Hope and independent factions and stated that new efforts for interaction with the independents have been formed, and if these efforts do not yield results, "the Hope faction will provide a list for the 12 board positions." Simultaneously, according to Tasnim, Mehrdad Baavoj Lahouti, the spokesman for the independents, announced that "the definitive opinion of this faction is in favor of Ali Larijani's presidency." He referred to the conclusions of the independents regarding the composition of the board elections, stating, "We believe that Mr. Pezeshkian and Motahari have performed well as deputy speakers and we want to keep them in the board's composition." According to Tasnim, the elections for the parliament's board for the second session will be held on Wednesday, June 10, in a public session. Last year, in the first election of the tenth parliament's board, Ali Larijani was elected as president with 237 votes, and Masoud Pezeshkian was elected as the first deputy speaker with 158 votes. Ali Motahari was also elected as the second deputy speaker with 133 votes, which was 10 votes more than Hamidreza Hajibabaei. In this context, according to Mehr News Agency, Ahmad Amirabadi, a member of the parliament's board, reported on a joint meeting of the heads of the Hope, principlist, and independent factions with Ali Larijani, stating, "There has been an agreement on the continuation of Larijani's presidency of the parliament." On the other hand, Gholamali Jafarzadeh Iman Abadi, the deputy head of the independents, regarding the outcome of the negotiations for the board elections, said, "Ultimately, we will form an alliance with the Hope list." He stated in an interview with Khabar Online that some had claimed that Ali Larijani had introduced Hamidreza Hajibabaei as a replacement for Motahari and promised that he would be appointed as deputy speaker, but Mr. Larijani denied this, stating that the selection of individuals is up to the floor. Mr. Iman Abadi said, "Certainly, the votes of the independents will not favor the removal of reformists, including Ali Motahari and Pezeshkian."