Iran’s embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election unleashed the worst crisis in the Islamic republic’s history, appealed to Parliament on Sunday to approve his new Cabinet.
The conservative-dominated assembly is beginning a three-day debate on the ministerial nominees chosen by Ahmadinejad and will then hold a vote of confidence on on Wednesday.
”I hope the majlis [Parliament] will firmly approve all ministers and with a decisive vote it will turn the hopes of ill-wishers into despair,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech to lawmakers as he introduced his Cabinet line-up.
He said his victory in the June 12 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, achieve progress and confront the bullying powers. We will continue to support oppressed nations and cooperate constructively with all nations except the Zionist regime,” he said referring to arch-foe Israel.
Media reports say the debate is expected to be stormy, with Ahmadinejad facing a daunting task in securing a mandate for his line-up which includes several new faces, among them three women — a first in the Islamic republic.
”We hope in the following friendly sessions the members will hold the debates with dignity and patience and pursue the matter with Islamic ethics. The majlis will provide ample time for both sides to present their cases,” speaker Ali Larijani said.
The vote of confidence 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 hardline camp over several decisions he took soon after his re-election, and MPs are furious at him for not consulting them over his Cabinet choices.
Iran’s continued hardline stance over its nuclear drive and the regime’s crackdown on election protesters has also further isolated the country from the West.
Ahmadinejad has kept five ministers in the same jobs, including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Current defence minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has been nominated as the next interior minister, while commerce minister Masoud Mirkazemi is Ahmadinejad’s pick for the oil ministry in Opec’s second largest exporter.
However, Mirkazemi is expected to be rejected because of his lack of expertise in the crucial sector, media reports said. He was also nearly impeached in 2007 and 2008 over rising prices of basic commodities.
The three female nominees are also expected to face an uphill task as some clerics have questioned the managerial abilities of women.
”Islam respects women, but respecting women does not mean that heavy social positions be given to them,” hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami said on Saturday.
Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou have been proposed respectively as ministers of education, health, and welfare and social security.
Ajorlou is controversial as she was prosecuted for supporting Abbas Palizdar, who was jailed for accusing several senior clerics, including former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and their children of corruption.
All three women are also seen as lacking executive experience.
Ahmadinejad said the presence of women in the Cabinet had raised the ”self-confidence” of women in Iran and triggered ”jubilation among Iranian women”.
”The government has fulfilled its task by selecting efficient women and I hope the majlis will help the government in completing the job it has started.”
Influential MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar has predicted that four to five men and all women nominees will fail to win the support of lawmakers.
”The president wants to be the ruler in sensitive ministries of intelligence, interior, culture, oil and foreign. So he has introduced people whose major quality is that they are yes-men,” prominent MP Ali Motahari said last week.
Lawmakers also doubt defence minister Najjar’s credentials to be the new interior minister given his military background.
Ahmadinejad said his new government will work towards reducing dependence on oil for the nation’s budgetary needs.
”Until today, the sector has been financially exploited to meet thegovernment’s budget. This has to change,” he said.
Oil exports generate 80% of Iran’s foreign revenue. – AFP
