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| 2nd Tehran parliament approves first female minister - Summary |
| Teheran, 03.09.2009 |
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| Tehran - Iran's parliament approved the first female minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic Thursday, although it rejected two other female ministerial picks of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A total of 18 of the president's 21 choices for his cabinet were approved, including Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi. She takes the health portfolio.
Despite intense debate and criticism of some candidates, Ahmadinejad was able to push through his choices in the key ministries for foreign affairs, interior, economy, oil and intelligence.
"After all the wrangling surrounding the president's re-election, a rejection of his key ministers would have been a fiasco," a political observer in Tehran who wished to remain anonymous said.
Iran's opposition continues to insist that the polls on June 12 were rigged and refuses to recognize Ahmadinejad's victory.
While police have put a stop to street demonstrations -- during which hundreds of thousands of protesters chanted "death to the dictator!" -- many Iranians still question the president's legitimacy.
"Vote unanimously for all 21 ministers and not only make the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khomeini) happy, but also all of our enemies unhappy," Ahmadinejad urged parliamentarians before the vote.
In addition to the three rejections, some key ministers received fewer votes than expected.
Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi, who will oversee the country's main source of income, barely got the necessary majority.
Approval of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was also lukewarm, as was that of the nominees for industry, commerce, micro-credit and transport ministries.
"These are signals that the president shouldn't ignore," the analyst commented.
The confirmation of former defence chief Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as interior minister stoked fears held by many Iranians, including some parliamentarians, that the ministry could be militarized.
The new science minister, Kamran Daneshjou, whose responsibilities include Iran's universities, may prove to be a divisive figure as well.
On the evening of the presidential vote, he announced Ahmadinejad's victory on state-run television with visible satisfaction. Opposition supporters felt this to be an affront, and some parliamentarians are now worried that his appointment could re- ignite student unrest.
"There will hardly be any friendship between him and the students," a Tehran University student remarked.
A number of parliamentarians accused the president and his chief diplomat of having further isolated Iran with their radical foreign policy.
Ahmadinejad was not invited to a single Western country in the past four years, they pointed out, all of his messages to Western leaders went unanswered and the West did not congratulate him on his re-election.
These were "major embarrassments" for Iran, the parliamentarians said.
"We are all one big family wanting to build up the country," Ahmadinejad told his parliamentary critics, calling on the legislature to support his government.
"The government isn't an apprenticeship where ministers get their first practical training," countered Speaker Ali Larijani, a critic of the president.
The majority of politicians, whose solid backing Ahmadinejad could once count on, had called on him to make professional qualifications, not ideological compatibility, the main criterion for his cabinet nominees. According to the president, the new cabinet is the best in Iran's history.
By nominating three women to the cabinet, Ahmadinejad aimed to score political points both at home and abroad. Though many parliamentarians found the gesture admirable, two failed to pass muster despite being related to war veterans and martyrs: Susan Keshavarz, nominated for the education portfolio, and Fatemeh Ajorlou, for welfare and social security.
Parliamentarians said the ministries were too important to be led by people lacking the requisite experience.
Female activists in Iran say that none of the three female nominees have ever advocated women's rights -- and that all of them are on Ahmadinejad's ideological wavelength.
Ahmadinejad plans to hold his first cabinet meeting on Sunday. The three rejected ministers are to be temporarily replaced. The president has three months to propose new candidates.
The parliament's thumbs up for most of Ahmadinejad's cabinet does not free him, however, from his problems with the opposition, more than 100 jailed critics and allegations that inmates have been tortured and raped.
"The issue of election irregularities and the consequences weren't resolved. They were swept under the rug," one Iranian journalist said.
Author : DPA 3.09.2009 |
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