March 16, 2018
Some members of the Majlis tried to fire three of President Rohani’s cabinet ministers last week but failed on all three accounts. However, one minister only barely survived the vote, suggesting he could face serious trouble sometime in the future.
That was Labor Minister Ali Rabii who won the support of only 51 percent of the deputies voting. The vote was on a motion to fire him. Some 123 deputies voted for the motion to fire while 126 voted against it and two abstained. With the conservative Principleists holding fewer than 100 seats, it was clear that many others voted against him.
Under the unusual rules used by the Majlis, an abstention counts as a nay vote, so Rabii won the support of 128 deputies or 50.99 percent of those voting.
Agriculture Minister Mahmud Hojjati also failed to draw broad support. The vote was 105 to fire, 117 to keep him and seven abstentions, giving him 54 percent support.
Only Transport Minister Abbas Akhundi did well, with 63 percent of the deputies backing him. Akhundi was called before the Majlis in large part because of the crash a few weeks ago of an Aseman Airlines jet with 65 aboard killed. The motion to fire him was filed the day after that crash.
The vote on Akhundi was 92 to fire, 152 to keep him and two abstentions. The relatively high level of support suggested the idea of firing a minister for a transportation accident—especially since the high aircraft crash rate of some years passed has ceased—was a reach too far for many deputies.
It only takes 10 deputies to demand a vote on firing a minister, prompting such votes frequently. This was the third time in five years that Akhundi has faced such a vote of no confidence.
Labor Minister Rabii, who only barely survived his vote, came under criticism largely for the fact that the pension funds his ministry oversees have not been earning much money, which is a result of the poor economy. He was also criticized for the sinking in January of the oil tanker Sanchi, which was owned by his ministry. Others noted the large number of labor protests around the country, chiefly over the failure of factory owners to pay their workers, and accused Rabii of ignoring worker grievances.
