IRNA – Iran's Majlis (Parliament) on Sunday afternoon approved President Hassan Rouhani's picks for the energy and science ministries.

President Rouhani's nominees for the Ministry of Energy Reza Ardakanian received 255 out of the 276 votes cast, with 38 votes against and 13 abstain.

President's nominee for the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Mansour Gholami, received 180 out of the 276 votes cast, with 82 votes against and 14 abstain.

President Rouhani attended the Majlis session on Sunday to defend his two proposed ministers.

President Rouhani, who was reelected as the new Iranian president on May 19, introduced 18 nominees for his cabinet on August 8 to the Iranian parliament, but his proposed ministers for Energy and Science failed to get parliament vote of confidence.

Mansour Gholami, who has been nominated as the science minister, was born in Hamedan in 1953.

He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in agriculture from Iranian universities and Ph.D from Australia. He is currently chancellor of Abu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan.

Meanwhil, Reza Ardakanian, the nominee for Ministry of Energy was born in Yazd in 1958. He has a B.S. in civil engeneering and M.S. in water resources engineering. He also has a Ph.D in water management from Canada.

Ardakanian has served in several governmental posts during the past 30 years. He has also cooperated with the United Nations in water-related projects.