File photo shows Iranian parliamentarian Alireza Zakani who has reportedly been elected as new mayor of Tehran.

Tehran’s Islamic City Council has elected parliamentarian Alireza Zakani as the new mayor of the Iranian capital city, according to media reports.

The Council picked Zakani as mayor in a vote held on Wednesday between six nominees, according to a report by the semi-official Fars news agency which did not elaborate on the vote breakdown in the 21-member Council.

The official IRNA news agency said, however, that Zakani had been elected in a preliminary ballot, saying an official voting session will be due on Thursday morning.

Zakani has been serving as a member of the Iranian parliament representing the holy city of Qom since early 2020. He has also led the Iranian parliament’s research center for nearly a year.

A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Zakani is known for his long years as head of the Student Basij Organization, an entity tasked with guarding the Islamic Revolution values in universities and cultural institutions in Iran.

The rightist politician has been born and raised in Tehran and has represented the city in the Iranian parliament on four occasions.

Zakani was one of six nominees contenting the June presidential election in Iran. He withdrew from the race just a day before the final vote to help incumbent President Ebrahim Raisie gain a sweeping victory.

Zakani’s main rivals in the Wednesday mayoral race were former police chief Eslameil Ahmadi Moghaddam and Habil Darvish, a former CEO of Tehran Metro.

Zakani replaces Pirouz Hanachi, an experienced civil servant with links to the leftist politicians in Iran. Hanachi had assumed the post in November 2018.

The mayoral election came hours after members of the Islamic City Council picked Mehdi Chamran their new chairman.

The Council is dominated by conservative politicians who were elected in a popular vote in June.