Top Iranian lawmakers voiced strong opposition yesterday to some of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s proposed ministers, including women, on the second day of a debate on his controversial Cabinet line-up.
Parliament is due to hold a vote of confidence on the 21-member Cabinet tomorrow but the hardline Ahmadinejad is battling to win support even from conservative members of parliament (MPs) who complained about the inclusion of women and charged that many of his nominees lacked experience.
Lawmakers yesterday openly objected to one of the three women Ahmadinejad has picked, the first time in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic that Iran would have female Cabinet ministers.
PHOTO: AFP
Education minister-designate Sousan Keshvaraz, dressed in a black chador, sought to win the support from a hostile parliament by showcasing her Islamic credentials and her plans for the post.
“I have grown up in a family which appreciates [Islamic] values and took part in religious events as well as in rallies against the shah’s government ... and have been a member of the women’s Basij,” she said, referring to the volunteer Islamic militia.
She said if she became the education minister, she would encourage “ideological and social counseling” for students.
But parliament’s education commission chief Ali Abbaspour, a powerful conservative, strongly opposed her candidacy.
“If Keshavarz gets the vote, then we have no choice but to impeach her,” he said. “She has only a year’s experience ... and is talking of the same programs outlined by previous ministers. The president has to nominate a strong minister.”
The other two women nominees, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi at the health ministry and Fatemeh Ajorlou at welfare and social security, also lack ministerial experience and have come under fire.
Ahmadinejad’s nominees for interior minister — current defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar — and oil minister — current commerce minister Masoud Mirkazemi, have also met with stiff opposition.
It is crucial for Ahmadinejad, who is already at loggerheads with members of his support base, to win over the 220-member conservative bloc in the 290-seat parliament if his Cabinet is to win the confidence vote. The Constitution says the Cabinet needs to be approved by more than 50 percent of lawmakers present for the vote.
On Sunday, top conservative MP Ahmad Tavakoli, voicing the sentiment of many other lawmakers, said 16 of Ahmadinejad’s nominees “have no experience required for the ministries they have been nominated for.”
Ahmadinejad, battling an opposition campaign as well as disputes with his own supporters, urged parliament to approve his new Cabinet on Sunday and said his re-election was confirmation that the people wanted his government to “continue on the same path.”
Meanwhile, Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed that anyone who has committed “crimes” against people harmed in post-election unrest would be prosecuted, state TV reported.
Speaking in the wake of allegations that detainees have been raped and tortured, Khamenei was quoted as telling a group of academics in Tehran: “All those who have been hurt in these [post-vote] incidents should know that the system does not intend to compromise.”
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