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Ahmadinejad Rival Elected Iranian Parliament Speaker

[New York Times] Nazila Fathi and Graham Bowley - Ali Larijani, who resigned as Iran's nuclear negotiator in October over differences with President Ahmadinejad, was elected by a vote of 232 to 31 as speaker of the Iranian Parliament on Wednesday. His lopsided victory appeared to be a rebuke of Ahmadinejad, who has faced growing dissatisfaction over grinding inflation and fresh memories of rolling blackouts last winter that left people without electricity and heat for hours at a time - even as the nation's oil revenues were soaring. However, Larijani is far from a moderate. In Washington, a senior administration official said, "Unfortunately, the election of Mr. Larijani as parliamentary speaker is simply a continuation of the existing regime.... Whether he and Ahmadinejad get along is irrelevant. He's still fully supportive of all of their policies with which we disagree."
2008-05-29 01:00:00
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