Iranian Parliament approves Rouhani’s picks to head science, energy ministries

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s Parliament has given its vote of confidence to President Hassan Rouhani’s nominees for the two remaining cabinet posts.

News ID: ۷۴۴۲۳۱

29 October 2017

After extensive debates during two Parliament sessions on Sunday, Rouhani’s picks for the two ministries obtained the green light from the Iranian lawmakers.

At the end of the evening session, Mansour Gholami, the proposed nominee for the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, won the vote of confidence with 180 Iranian lawmakers in favor, 82 against and 14 abstentions, according to PressTV.

This as 225 lawmakers also gave their approval to Reza Ardekanian, the president’s pick for the Energy Ministry. Thirty-eight lawmakers opposed him for the post and 13 abstained.

Ardekanian won the lawmakers’ confidence vote after Rouhani’s first pick, Habibollah Bitaraf, failed to receive a vote of confidence on August 20. Bitaraf did not make it to the cabinet with 133 votes cast in his favor, 132 votes against him and 17 abstentions.

Rouhani did not name any candidate for Ministry of Science, Research and Technology when he introduced his cabinet members to the Parliament on August 8.

In a letter to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani last week, Rouhani submitted the names of the nominees for the two remaining cabinet posts.

The Iranian president won re-election back in May. He took the oath of office earlier in the same month after being formally endorsed as the Iranian chief executive by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.