August 17, The Iran Project - During the past three days, Irans Parliament (Majlis) has held open-floor debates for vetting of President Hassan Rouhanis proposed ministers, who need the legislatures vote of confidence to serve in the new cabinet.
Half of the proposed cabinet has remained unchanged compared to the first term. Nine out of the 17 proposed ministers were at the helm in the first term. Only the position of minister of Sciences, Research, and Technology is still falling vacant.
1st day: Rouhani's speech anddebates over his picks for 3 ministries
First intensive session at the Iranian Parliament kicked off on Tuesday (Aug 15). President Rouhani was present to defend his picks. He began with an outline of his plans for the next cabinet. Five lawmakers later spoke in support of Rouhanis agenda and five others against it.
Then, the lawmakers started debating for confidence votes to three of President Rouhanis picks for ministries of Education, ICT, and Intelligence. One supporter and one opponent of each nominee, the nominee himself, and if necessary, the president gave a speech.
Seyyed Mohammad Bathaei,Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, who is the youngest nominee for Rouhanis second-term cabinet andSeyyed Mahmoud Alavi areRouhanis picks for Ministry of Education, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology andMinistry of Intelligence, respectively.
2nd day: Vetting 5other nominees including Javad Zarif
In the second session for debating vote of confidence on Wednesday (Aug 16), Iranian lawmakers beganother round of discussions on the qualification of Rouhanis five other nominees for ministerial posts.
The debates focused on Mahmoud Alavi, Masoud Karbasian, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Ali Rabiei, the presidents picks to head Intelligence, Economy, Foreign, Health and Labor Ministries, respectively.
Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Rouhanis pick for ministry of foreign affairs, stood in front of lawmakers and talked about his programs for the next 4 years in office.
Supporting lawmakers focused on his achievements in the field of economic diplomacy, visits of foreign economic delegations to Iran, regional developments and nuclear negotiations.
Meantime, opposing MPs also maneuvered over banking obstacles, weakening ties with the Latin American countries and Persian Gulf states and inability to take measures against international threats.
3rd day: Reviewing qualification of 4 other cabinet picks
Iranian MPs debated on Thu. (Aug 17) the qualification for vote of confidence for President Rouhanis four other picks for his second-term cabinet.
President Rouhani picked his previous Minister of Agriculture, Ali Hojjati, for his second-term cabinet. His opponents and supporters discussed Hojjatis handling of crises facing agriculture, natural resources, and rural areas.
Rouhanis new pick for Ministry of Justice, Alireza Avaei, had no lawmaker speaking against him, and only four MPs spoke in his defense
Also, Rouhanis new appointee to Ministry of Defense, Amir Hatami, had no speaker against him.
The last pick for Thursday session was Rouhanis appointee to Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi, who had also served at the same position during the Presidents first-term cabinet. Akhoundi was generally praised for his efforts on signing deals with ATR, Boeing and Airbus.
Parliament will continue with the remaining cabinet picks on Saturday.
4th day: Debating vote of confidence ofthree other nominees
During the 4th day of Parliaments open-floor debates,the opponents and advocates expressed their views and comments about three other nominees for Roads and Urban Development and, Culture and Islamic Guidance and Industry, Mine and Trade Ministries Abbas Akhoundi, Reza Salehi Amiri and Mohammad Shariatmadari, respectively.
The three picks also described their plans and programs regarding their likely posts in President Rouhanis cabinet.
Final day: Parl.approves Rouhani's ministers, except one
On Saturday, parliament continued with the remaining cabinet picks, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli for Interior Ministry, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh for Ministry of Petroleum, Habibollah Bitaraf for Ministry of Energy and Masoud Soltanifar for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Also, Rouhani addressed the parliament before the voting, saying that the top foreign policy priority for his new government was to protect the nuclear deal from being torn up by the United States.
Then, after 5 days ofintensive debates on Pres. Rouhanis picks for his second-term cabinet, lawmakers gave a vote of confidence to 16 out of 17 candidates for ministry positions.
Habibollah Bitaraf,the pick for the energy portfolio, did not make it to the cabinet on Sunday, with 133 votes cast in his favor, 132 votes against him and 17 abstentions.
Rouhani's cabinet still lacks a minister for Ministry of Science and will be run by a deputy until the president introduces a candidate for the position.
The following is the list of president's second-term cabinet ministers in order of the highest votes received:
Ministry of Defense, Amir Hatami:261 votes
Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Seyyed Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi:253 votes
Ministry of Intelligence, Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi:252 votes