TEHRAN, Sept 4: Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was on Tuesday elected head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, continuing his political comeback from the humiliation of defeat in the 2005 presidential election.

The vote for the top clerical body comes at a crucial period leading up to legislative elections in March next year, with hardliners close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad facing off against more pragmatic forces allied to Rafsanjani.

The ex-president polled 41 votes from fellow members of the Assembly in the closed-door election while the hardline cleric Ahmad Jannati won 34 votes, the public relations department of the Assembly said.

A total of 76 votes were cast, with one abstention, it added.—AFP