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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran lawmakers veto four proposed cabinet ministers
2005-08-25
TEHERAN - Iran’s parliament on Wednesday rocked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fledgling government by rejecting four of his cabinet nominees, including the proposed new oil minister for OPEC’s second-largest crude producer.

The parliamentary confidence vote was a rude awakening for Ahmadinejad, a religious conservative who took office earlier this month promising to root out corruption and redistribute the Islamic state’s vast oil wealth to the poor. The vote suggested Ahmadinejad would not always enjoy a smooth ride from parliament and pointed to rifts developing in the conservative camp which has driven reformists from all branches of power in the last three years.
Gee, I didn't know the Iranians knew the Kabuki dance.
Oil Ministry nominee Ali Saeedlou, a close Ahmadinejad ally who lawmakers said lacked oil industry experience, garnered just 101 votes from the 284 lawmakers present, well short of the simple majority required.

Lawmakers, the majority of whom are conservatives like Ahmadinejad, endorsed 17 of the president’s ministerial picks, putting well-known hardliners in charge of the ministries of intelligence, interior and culture. Along with Saeedlou, the nominees to head the ministries of higher education, cooperatives and social welfare failed to get sufficient votes.

Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddadadel said Ahmadinejad had three months to propose alternative nominees. “Parliament had expected more important and better candidates to be assigned for these posts,” he told reporters.

The rejection of Saeedlou was a particular blow to Ahmadinejad, who has pledged to root out corrupt “mafias” inside the oil ministry and to “put the country’s oil wealth on people’s tables”. Ahmadinejad defended Saeedlou, who served as his financial deputy when he was mayor of Tehran until June. “He’s a caring, hard-working, serious and strong manager,” Ahmadinejad told lawmakers before the vote, highlighting Saeedlou’s degree in geology.

Over four days of debates examining each nominee, lawmakers picked holes in the track records of several proposed ministers. Ahmadinejad said he had deliberately chosen to “break the traditional circle of old managers” who had run the country under previous governments. “With this coordinated team I will be able to implement my commitments to the people,” he said.

Speaking against Saeedlou, lawmaker Teimourali Askari said: ”The country has suffered a lot of damage through lack of experience.”
"My fellow lawmakers, look at the damage our country has suffered already with the mullahs in char ..." [THUMP]
Earlier, conservative lawmaker Emad Afrough had spoken out strongly against proposed Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who was deputy intelligence minister during the mid-1990s. “You must realise that when someone comes from such a ministry ... our reaction is to shudder with fear,” he said, pointing to alleged human rights abuses, including the murder of dissidents, by Intelligence Ministry agents in the 1990s.
The mullahs didn't consider that to be a bug ...
Pourmohammadi was, nevertheless, approved and will form part of what analysts say will be a hardline core of ministers dealing with domestic politics and foreign affairs.
Posted by:Steve White

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