Teheran  - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated Tuesday the new legislative period of the Iranian parliament which will once again be dominated by conservatives for the next four years.

Conservative factions won almost 70 per cent of the 290 seats in April's elections while the remaining seats went to reformists and independent deputies.

Unlike in the previous period, there is a division within the conservative factions with one faction, headed by former speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel, still supporting the president but the other faction, headed by former chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, is highly critical of Ahmadinejad's policies.

In an internal meeting on Sunday, the two factions had their first test of power which clearly ended in favour of the Larijani faction and the pro-Ahmadinejad wing was forced to hand over the speaker post to Larijani.

Official voting for the speaker's post will be carried out later Tuesday.

Reformists close to former president Mohammad Khatami form a small minority but are determined to make the best of their opposition role. (dpa)