The World - News from June 8, 1988

Hashemi Rafsanjani, recently named chief of Iran’s armed forces, was reelected Speaker of the 270-member Majlis (Parliament), Tehran Radio reported. It said that Rafsanjani, 53, received 187 of 192 votes cast, becoming Speaker for the third time since the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in the 1979 revolution. Rafsanjani’s election followed gains by radicals during parliamentary elections in April and May. Sources in Tehran, reached by phone, said 57% of the seats in the new Majlis appear to be controlled by the radicals. Rafsanjani is widely expected to replace Ali Khamenei as Iran’s president next year.