Parliament approves Rouhani’s picks to head science, energy ministries
Parliament gave its vote of confidence to President Hassan Rouhani’s nominees for the two remaining cabinet posts. After extensive debates during two Parliament sessions on Sunday, Rouhani’s picks for the two ministries obtained the green light from the Iranian lawmakers, Press TV reported.
At the end of the evening session, Mansour Gholami, the proposed nominee for the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, won the vote of confidence with 180 Iranian lawmakers in favor, 82 against and 14 abstentions.
Also, 225 lawmakers gave their approval to Reza Ardakanian, the president’s pick for the Energy Ministry while 38 opposed and 13 abstained.
Ardakanian won the lawmakers’ confidence vote after Rouhani’s first pick, Habibollah Bitaraf, failed to receive a vote of confidence on August 20.
Rouhani did not name any candidate for Ministry of Science, Research and Technology when he introduced his cabinet members to the Parliament on August 8.
In a letter to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani last week, Rouhani submitted the names of the nominees for the two remaining cabinet posts.
The Iranian president won reelection back in May. He took the oath of office earlier in the same month after being formally endorsed as the Iranian chief executive by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.