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Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Rafsanjani is the longest-serving speaker of Iran's Parliament since the revolution having held the post from 1980-1989, at which time he became president winning 94.5% of the vote. He won his second term in 1993 with 64% of the vote. He died in 2017.

Background

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani handily won the presidency in 1989 after then-President Ali Khamenei was elected by the Assembly of Experts to serve as the country's next Supreme Leader.

Although he disagreed with Khamenei on many issues (the prominence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps being a notable example) he was immensely popular and had even managed to lead the 2009 Presidential elections but he had only secured 21% of the vote and lost in the ensuing runoff to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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