November 01-2013
The Majlis Sunday approved two of President Rohani’s nominees for the three remaining open cabinet post, but rejected the third nominee.
The losing candidate was Reza Salehi-Amiri, the nominee to head the Ministry of Sports and Youth, probably the least important post in the cabinet. President Ahmadi-nejad didn’t even want it to be a cabinet-level position, but the Majlis insisted.
Amiri is a close associate of Rohani’s and was a senior aide in his presidential campaign.
But in the debate over his nomination, many Majlis deputies complained that he lacked experience in the field of sports and youth, had mismanaged other positions he had held, and had a role in the unrest after the 2009 presidential elections. Amiri denied those allegations.
The votes on the three nominees were as follows:
• Ali-Asghar Fani was approved as minister of education, which handles K-12 education, on a vote of 185-53 with 24 abstentions. Since the Majlis follows the unusual practice of counting an abstention as a “no” vote, he won approval of 70.6 percent of the deputies voting.
• Reza Faraji-Dana was approved as minister of science, research and technology on a vote of 159-70 with 32 abstentions or 60.9 percent support. The Science Ministry’s main task is overseeing higher education.
• Amiri lost the post of minister of sports and youth on a vote of 107-141 with 13 abstentions, giving him the support of 41.0 percent of the deputies.
The cabinet has 18 ministers. Fifteen nominees were approved and three disapproved in August. With Sunday’s vote, just the Sports Ministry remains vacant.
