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Iran hardliner Jannati elected head of Assembly of Experts | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A hardline conservative has been elected chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body which selects the country's supreme leader. | |
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, 90, was one of the few hardliners to secure re-election to the assembly in February. | |
Reformists and moderates asked their supporters to vote tactically to stop most of them retaining their seats. | |
But Ayatollah Jannati's election is a signal that hardliners are still in control of the assembly. | |
The composition of the assembly is seen as significant given that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 77 and has suffered ill-health. | |
The supreme leader is Iran's most powerful figure, and has the final say on all policy in Iran. | |
Ayatollah Jannati has been openly critical of moderate President Hassan Rouhani and his desire to open Iran to greater trade and investment and deepen dialogue with the West. | |
The hardliner is also the leader of the Guardian Council, an unelected body disqualified thousands of reformist candidates from standing in February's elections for the assembly and parliament. | |
He won the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts on Tuesday with 51 votes, Iranian media reported. |
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