It has been more than a year since President Hassan Rouhani’s administration came to power and now there is more talk than ever before about forming a moderate pro-administration faction in the parliament. This issue has become more serious following the events of the last few months, including the science minister's impeachment. Rouhani’s fourth nomination for science minister failed to receive a vote of confidence from parliament and there has been constant questioning and summoning of different members of Rouhani’s Cabinet.

It appears that whenever there is tension between the parliament and the administration, certain parliament members remind the administration that such a parliamentary faction is needed. But it also appears that serious opposition has prevented the moderate faction from forming. In addition to people like House Speaker Ali Larijani and Ahmad Tavakoli, an influential Principlist parliamentarian, even some who have close ties with the Reformists, such as Kamal Pirmoazen, oppose the idea of forming such a faction.

The Iranian Parliament has 290 members, primarily of two factions: Principlists and the Followers of the Leader (Rahrovan-e Velayat). The Followers of the Leader faction is parliament's largest, with an estimated 170 members. The members of this faction, with whom Larijani has close ties, view Rouhani’s administration positively. The Principlist faction is the second largest, with about 100 members. Members of this faction oppose Rouhani’s administration and some of them support former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This is where it gets tricky, however. The Followers of the Leader faction, headed by Larijani, supports Rouhani’s economic and diplomatic policies. But members of this faction, along with the Principlists, oppose the administration when it comes to domestic, cultural and sometimes social issues. This is why Abed Fattahi, a parliamentarian who supports the idea of the faction, said, “Given the contradictory action of the members of the Followers of the Leader, we have no choice but to form the moderate faction.”