According to the New York Times, "Final results for the Assembly of Experts showed that more than 65 candidates close to Mr. Rafsanjani were elected" (Nazila Fathi, "Election Seen as Setback for Iran's President," 18 December 2006, <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/world/middleeast/19irancnd.html>). The Assembly of Experts is an 86-member body, so Rafsanjani can now single-handedly control it, if the NYT's reading of political affiliation (which can be hard to figure out) is correct.
Rafsanjani already chairs the Expediency Council, which resolves differences between the Parliament and the Council of Guardians, and advises the Supreme Leader on national security, and the elections have just given him more power, theoretically enough power to check Ali Khamenei (though the Assembly of Experts has never been so activist and used the power it has on paper).
Rafsanjani on one hand and Robert Gates on the other hand might remind some of the days of Iran-Contra Affair. If Washington wants a detente with Tehran, stars are now getting aligned all right for that . . . except that it probably doesn't. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>