Temporary Board of Tehran Council Formed; Various Options for Mayorship

The new members of the Tehran City Council held their first unofficial meeting on Tuesday, June 1, and elected their temporary board. At the same time, various candidates for the future mayor of Tehran have been discussed. Morteza Alviri, the second on the Tehran list, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that the meeting was attended by 19 out of 21 members of the new city council. Reformists managed to secure all the important council seats in the capital under the 'Hope List' during the elections held on May 29, marking a significant step towards extensive changes in the management of Tehran's municipality. In the Tuesday meeting, Morteza Alviri was elected as president, Ahmad Masjed Jamei and Shahbanu Amani as vice presidents, and Hojjat Nazari and Bahareh Arvin as secretaries of the temporary board of the fifth term of the Tehran City Council. Alviri stated to IRNA: 'It was decided that the council members' meetings would be held twice a week with the presence of all members, and in this regard, the next meeting will be held on June 3.' He added that the issue of selecting the mayor of Tehran was not discussed in the Tuesday meeting and 'this topic will certainly be discussed in future meetings of the council members.' However, there has been considerable discussion on social media regarding the candidates for the mayoralty of Tehran and the succession of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. Candidates mentioned include Mohsen Hashemi (the first on the Tehran City Council list), Mohsen Safaei Farahani (former president of the Football Federation), Mohsen Mehralizadeh (former head of the Physical Education Organization), and Pirouz Hanachi (Deputy Minister of Housing and Urban Development). However, the mention of Mohsen Hashemi as a candidate for mayor has faced criticism from social media users, with some stating, 'If Mohsen Hashemi was to become mayor, what was the point of being on the Hope List? His becoming mayor would be an opportunity for Chaman to take a position that the people did not want.' Mehdi Chamran, a prominent figure among conservatives in the Tehran City Council elections, ranked 22nd and could enter the council if one of the main members resigns. He has been a main member of the Tehran City Council for the past 12 years and was its president for all but one year, during which his management and collaboration with Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf drew significant criticism. In this context, Abdollah Ramadanzadeh, former spokesman for Mohammad Khatami's government and a political science professor at Tehran University, tweeted: 'It is expected that all elected members remain in the city council and that the mayor be chosen from outside the council / we must respect the people's vote.' Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative of Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also tweeted that 'all elected members of the city council have pledged in the covenant that they will not accept any other position if elected.' Meanwhile, some users have claimed that Mohsen Hashemi did not sign the 'covenant' of the Supreme Council of Reformists. Concurrently, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, who held the position of mayor of Tehran during Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidency, stated in an interview with the 'Entekhab' website that 'given the victory of the Hope List in the Tehran City Council, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has reached the end of his tenure as mayor of Tehran.' He added, 'If Mohsen Hashemi is interested, given his background and activities in both the metro and urban areas, he is among the candidates for the mayoralty of Tehran.' In the ongoing discussions, some users have called for Mohsen Safaei Farahani to be elected as mayor of Tehran, while others view his arrest during the protests of 2009 as a significant obstacle in this regard. Pirouz Hanachi, whose name is also among the candidates for the mayoralty of Tehran, served as Deputy Minister of Urban Planning and Architecture in Mohammad Khatami's government. He has also been the head of the 'Cultural and Artistic Research Institute of Tehran University,' the first president of the 'Urban Planning and Architecture Research Center of Iran,' and the head of the 'Higher Education Center for Cultural Heritage.' He is currently the 'Deputy of Engineering System and Building Execution at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.' The Islamic City Council of Tehran consists of 21 members. According to the results of the May 29 elections, Mohsen Hashemi Behrani, Morteza Alviri, Ahmad Masjed Jamei, Shahbanu Amani, Mohammad Javad Haqshenas, Bahareh Arvin, Seyed Ebrahim Amini, Afshin Habibzadeh, Seyed Arash Hosseini Milani, Hassan Khalilabadi, Ali E'ta, Zahra Sadr Azam Noori, Mohammad Salari, Seyed Hassan Rasouli, Nahid Khodakarami, Majid Farahani, Zahra Nejad Bahram, Seyed Mahmoud Mirloohi, Elham Fakhari, Mohammad Ali Khani, and Bashir Nazari were elected as members of the fifth term of the Islamic City Council of Tehran.