Majlis approves interior minister nominee
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
13:30GMT—8:30AM/EST
MAJLIS – INTERIOR – MINISTER
Washington, 18 November (IranVNC)—Iran’s Majlis [parliament] today approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nomination for interior minister, Sadeq Mahsouli.
He was approved by a narrow vote of confidence, confirmed after a re-count of the votes.
Out of the 273 lawmakers present, 138 voted in favor, 112 rejected the nomination, 20 abstained and three did not take part in the vote, Iran’s Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said.
He told reporters: “Of course, the votes were on the edge, and more care should have been taken in the counting of the votes. Anyway, Mahsouli is the Interior Minister,” the official IRNA news agency reports.
Larijani added that there was “no doubt” about the accuracy of the vote count.
Ahmadinejad has said that he has known Mahsouli, a former Islamic Revolution Guard, for 30 years.
He had previously nominated Mahsouli as his second oil minister in 2005. But Mahsouli withdrew his name prior to the Majlis vote of confidence amid doubts in the Majlis about his qualifications and a controversy surrounding the source of his wealth.
But today, ahead of the Majlis confidence vote, Ahmadinejad defended his choice for Interior Minister, and sought to allay any remaining concerns over Mahsouli’s wealth.
“If the previous material situation of the people who become charged with responsibility was good, this should not be taken as a problem,” Mehr News Agency quoted him as telling the lawmakers.
Ahmadinejad also proposed a plan to review the wealth of all those who, after the 1979 revolution, held posts from governors and above and whose wealth was particularly high.
“I will put myself at your service as the first person, and I think that the deputies of the Majlis will also agree with this idea,” he said.
Mahsouli is the third interior minister to serve under the current administration. His predecessor, Ali Kordan, was impeached on 11 November for presenting a fake honorary doctorate from Britain’s Oxford University.
Based on Iranian law, if one more cabinet post is changed, Ahmadinejad’s entire cabinet will need a vote of confidence from the Majlis.
So far, there have been 10 changes in Ahmadinejad’s 21-member cabinet. Under Iran’s constitution, the entire cabinet would have to receive a new vote of confidence if half the ministers change.
Sources: IRNA in Persian, Mehr News Agency in Persian
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