Hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati was elected to head Iran's Assembly of Experts May 24 with 51 of the assembly members' 86 votes. Jannati will head the body tasked with picking the supreme leader for two years before another round of elections.

Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini, who was the favored candidate among the Reformist media in this morning’s newspapers, came in second with 21 votes. According to Reformist newspaper Arman Daily, Amini was “the closest figure to Rafsanjani’s moderation and political platform.” Shargh Daily reported that “Amini’s chances are higher than the other choices” to head the assembly.

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi came in third with 13 votes. Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani and Shahroudi were chosen as first deputy and second deputy, respectively. Ayatollah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi and Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami were elected as secretaries of the board of directors of the assembly.

Missing from the election for the leadership was Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He led the assembly from 2007 to 2011 but lost the position after a falling out over the 2009 presidential election. He tried unsuccessfully to regain the leadership in March 2015. Ever the strategist, Rafsanjani may have only volunteered to run in the 2015 leadership election to circulate his name in the media ahead of the February parliamentary election. On May 19, he told Aftab Yazd newspaper, “I do not intend to present myself for the leadership. … It is not necessary to head [the assembly], and for me to be a member is good.”