Tehran city council elects new mayor, third in 18 months

The city council in Iran’s capital on Tuesday elected Pirouz Hanachi, a little-known technocrat, to the politically sensitive post of mayor, state television said. Hanachi is the third mayor of Tehran to be elected by the city council since reformists swept to power in local polls in May 2017. Hanachi, 54, was a deputy mayor after the reformists took office in August 2017. The Interior Ministry has yet to confirm his election, a mostly procedural process. The reformists have promised transparency in running the city following corruption charges against their conservative rivals who controlled the Tehran council for 14 years, AFP said. The post, which has changed hands three times in 18 months, had served as a political springboard for conservative hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president between 2005 and 2013. Another officeholder, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, was unsuccessful in his bids for the presidency.