Former Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel, on the last working day of the outgoing Majlis, presented a report on the parliament’s four-year performance.
In another development, the conservative lawmakers of the Eighth Majlis in a symbolic meeting on Sunday selected the presiding board.
According to ISNA, Haddad said the governing ambiance of the Seventh Majlis was faith in Islam, the Islamic Revolution, and the Islamic state as well as upholding national interests, matters of expedience and also abidance by directives of the leader.
He emphasized that the Seventh Majlis performed in accordance with ethical values and wisdom in a calm atmosphere.
“In this calm atmosphere, our discussions were very serious and this is one of the sources of pride and glory for the Majlis,“ he said.
The speaker recalled that in the past four years he tried to run the parliament in compliance with the rule of law.
“The minority and majority as well as supporters and opponents expressed their views on the basis of Majlis bylaws and had equal rights,“ he said.

Conservatives Elect Larijani As Speaker
Ali Larijani was elected as speaker and Mohammad Reza Bahonar and Ruhollah Hosseinian as vice speakers.
Conservative MPs hold about 70 percent of the parliament’s seats. The new Majlis will officially start its activities on Monday.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the speaker said the general guideline of the Seventh Majlis was to address the people’s problems.
“From the political point of view, the Majlis pertained to two periods. For one year, we worked with Mohammad Khatami’s government and for three years with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s. In each period, the governing criterion for us was to cooperate with the government, as selected public representatives are not meant to weaken the government. To sum it up, our approach was to pursue interaction,“ he said.
He noted that the Seventh Majlis passed 177 bills pertaining to judicial and customs agreements as well as cooperation with other countries.
“One of the bold moves made by the Seventh Majlis was gasoline rationing. The issue was being mulled for many years, but it was not implemented. The task was very complicated and extensive, and we had problems at the beginning. However, the crucial move was implemented in the wake of perseverance of the parliament and the painstaking efforts of the government,“ he said.

Michel Suleiman

Lebanon’s Parliament elected army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as president on Sunday in a long-delayed vote that was a key step toward restoring political stability after an 18-month stalemate.
Celebratory gunfire and occasional explosions reverberated across the capital, Beirut, as news of Suleiman’s election was announced.
In the general’s hometown of Aamchit on the Mediterranean coast north of Beirut, hundreds of people broke out in cheers and dancing in the main square as they watched the vote on a giant screen.
The Hezbollah-led opposition and US-backed government agreed last week to elect Suleiman as part of their deal to end the political crisis.
The stalemate erupted into violence earlier this month, bringing the country to the brink of another civil war.The presidential vote had been postponed 19 times since November when the last president, Emile Lahoud, left office.
Suleiman, a compromise candidate, ran unopposed. He won 118 votes of the 127 living members of the legislature, according to parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
After the vote, Berri was to swear in the new president.
Parliament has not met for over 18 months, crippling Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government. Bouts of violence claimed scores of lives and revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war.
Siniora will now resign, but will stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.
Under Lebanon’s complex power-sharing system, the president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim.
Suleiman, who gives up his post as army commander, fills a chair vacated six months ago by Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria.
Fluent in English and French, Suleiman is married with three children. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1970 and holds a Lebanese University degree in politics and administration.
His first task is to appoint a new prime minister and coordinate with him on the formation of the new cabinet.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki were among dignitaries attending the Lebanese Parliament.
Mottaki visited the grave of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Damascus in February, before the vote--which coincides with the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
He also conferred with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber Al-Thani on mutual relations as well as regional developments.
Iranian foreign minister congratulated the Lebanese nation and their leaders on the recent agreement between the country’s political leaders in Doha.
Mottaki also thanked Qatar for its positive role in bringing the Lebanese parties to the negotiating table.
He said restoration of stability and tranquility in Lebanon is considered as stability and tranquility for the entire region which has made the Iranian nation happy.
Mottaki called the move a historical achievement for Lebanese nation.
The Qatari foreign minister, for his part, thanked Iran for its continued efforts as well as the positive and constructive role from early stages of crisis in Lebanon along with efforts which led to the Doha meeting.

Commerce Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said the ministry has been authorized to withdraw $800 million from the Oil Stabilization Fund to purchase essential commodities.