Iran’s newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad faced his first political crisis on Wednesday when the parliament, or Majlis, did not approve four out of the 21 ministers for his cabinet.
Although the parliament is dominated by conservatives from the president’s party, they rejected the four proposed ministers on grounds that they are “not experienced enough.”
Seventeen of the proposed cabinet members received a vote of confidence from the seventh Majlis on Wednesday.
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One of those rejected was the president’s nominee for oil minister, something which is likely to cause turbulence in Iran’s energy policy.
The nominee, ‘Ali Saeedlou, is the acting mayor of Tehran. He received the votes of 101 of the 284 lawmakers present, failing to get the simple majority required.
Ahmadi Nejad has three months to present a new candidate. In the meantime, he will take responsibility for this portfolio himself.