Iran's former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who leaned toward the opposition after the disputed presidential election of 2009, has lost his post as the chairman of the Islamic republic's top religious body.
Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani, a former prime minister, replaced Mr Rafsanjani as head of the Assembly of Experts after winning 63 votes at the Assembly's meeting today, the state-run Mehr news agency said.
Mr Rafsanjani declined to run for the post, citing the risk of splits within the clerical institution. "If Mr. Mahdavi-Kani agrees to accept the responsibility of leading the Assembly, I will not seek the candidacy so that this holy body isn't harmed," Mr Rafsanjani said at the opening of the meeting.
"Divisions in the Assembly are damaging."
The 86-member group nominates the nation's supreme leader, a position held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and oversees his work.
The selection of a chairman has been the subject of debate in local media, with supporters of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backing Mahdavi-Kani as a way to push out Mr Rafsanjani, who sided with opposition leaders alleging that the 2009 election was rigged.
Mr Rafsanjani, who has headed the Assembly since September 2007, is among the founders of the Islamic republic and was its president from 1989 to 1997. He sought to regain the post by running in the 2005 election, losing to Mr Ahmadinejad.
Mr Rafsanjani indirectly supported the campaign of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading presidential challenger in 2009 and a central figure in the opposition movement that emerged from the dispute over the vote results.
Mr Rafsanjani's family members have also been targeted by authorities. His daughter, Faezeh, has openly criticised Mr Ahmadinejad and has been arrested for joining anti-government protests.
His older son, Mohsen, stepped down as the managing director of the Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Co last week, citing "restrictions" that didn't allow him to carry out his duties, and a lack of funding from the government.
In November, courts issued an arrest warrant for Mr Rafsanjani's other son, Mehdi, following accusations that he incited protests after the 2009 election. Mehdi is in exile in the UK.
Bloomberg