Iran’s embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election unleashed the worst political crisis in the Islamic republic’s history, appealed to parliament yesterday to approve his new Cabinet.
“I hope the majlis will firmly approve all ministers and with a decisive vote it will turn the hopes of ill-wishers into despair,” he said, using a local term to address the parliament, as he introduced his proposed line-up at the start of a three-day debate ahead of a vote of confidence on Wednesday.
Ahmadinejad said his victory in the June 12 presidential election was confirmation that the Iranian people wanted his government to “continue on the same path” of his first four-year term.
“We are committed to spreading justice, preserving the national dignity, achieving progress and confronting the bullying powers. We will continue to support oppressed nations and cooperate constructively with all nations except the Zionist regime,” he said of Israel.
But Ahmadinejad faces a daunting task in securing a mandate from the conservative-dominated assembly for his line-up which includes several new faces, among them three women — a first in the Islamic republic.
Lawmaker Ali Akbar Yousefnajed, who was a senior official in the government of Ahmadinejad’s reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami, criticized the hardliner.
“The president used the same words in qualifying his Cabinet as he used four years ago. How come we have 14 new faces?” he asked. “Where are those who were sacked in the last four years?”
During his first term, Ahmadinejad received flak for firing 10 ministers, two central bank chiefs and several other top officials.
But conservative member of parliament Hossein Garousi defended the new line-up.
“The nominees are highly educated and they coordinate well with the president,” he said. “If we saw people changing [in the existing Cabinet], it was because the president is very meticulous when it comes to management.”
The confidence vote comes as Iran is gripped in political turmoil after Ahmadinejad’s re-election triggered massive street protests which left at least 30 people dead and shook the pillars of the Islamic regime.
Ahmadinejad is under fire from his own hard-line camp over several decisions he took soon after his re-election, and many lawmakers are furious at not being consulted over his Cabinet choices.
Iran’s continued hard-line stance over its nuclear drive and the crackdown on election protesters has also further isolated it from the West.
Ahmadinejad has retained five ministers in the same posts, including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Current defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has been nominated as interior minister, while commerce minister Masoud Mirkazemi is his pick for the crucial oil ministry in OPEC’s second largest exporter.
However, Mirkazemi is expected to be rejected because of his lack of expertise in the sector, media reports said. He was also nearly impeached in 2007 and last year over rising prices of basic commodities.
Reformist lawmaker Mohammad Reza Tabesh said: “The worry is that if he gets rejected, then there is less possibility of a stronger person getting nominated.”
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