Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
Trend:
Tehran City Council appointed Seyyed Mohammad Ali Afshani as the new mayor of the Iranian capital city, Iran’s state-run IRINN TV reported.
During a May 13 session of Tehran City Council, two candidates succeeded to win the necessary votes to compete for the post of mayor in Tehran, in which Afshani secured the highest number of votes, 19.
His rival Samiollah Hosseini Makarem, who is serving as the Acting Mayor of Tehran, obtained only one vote.
The pro-reform politician Afshani, currently serves as deputy interior minister of Iran.
Afshani will replace Mohammad Ali Najafi, who resigned of the post last month.
Njafi mentioned illness as the main reason for his resignation but some of the council members said that he had resigned under political pressure.
Najafi was summoned to court after a video was released on social media in mid-March showing him at a Women’s Day ceremony where young girls were dancing.
Najafi has accused the former conservative Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf over his “widespread illegal actions at the Tehran Municipality”.