All of President Pezeshkian’s ministerial picks win parliament’s vote of confidence
The Iranian parliament (Majlis) has ended the debate on nominees for the country’s new cabinet and approved all of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s 19 cabinet picks.
In a session on Wednesday, following four days of intense deliberations and hearings, the lawmakers voted in favor of all 19 ministers proposed by the new president.
Pezeshkian submitted the list of his proposed ministerial picks to the parliament for a vote of confidence on August 11, 12 days after his swearing-in ceremony.
The lawmakers convened on Saturday to discuss the qualifications and programs of the ministerial nominees and the process continued till Wednesday before the voting took place.
Ahead of the voting on Wednesday, President Pezeshkian addressed the parliament and urged them to approve his ministerial nominees while also calling for “unity and cohesion.”
Following the tragic helicopter crash that resulted in the death of President Ebrahim Raeisi on May 19, Pezeshkian emerged as one of the six final candidates selected by the Constitutional Council from a pool of 80 individuals vying for the presidency.
He won the highest number of votes in the first round of the presidential election on June 28 and faced off the runner-up, Saeed Jalili, in the runoff election on July 5.
The physician-turned-politician from northern Iran’s Tabriz city and former health minister won the runoff by garnering 53.66 percent of the total number of votes cast.
Here’s a breakdown of how many votes each nominee earned:
Minister of Communications: Sattar Hashemi, 264 votes
Minister of Intelligence: Seyed Esmaeil Khatib, 261 votes
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance: Abdolnaser Hemmati, 192 votes
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Abbas Araghchi, 247 votes
Minister of Education: Alireza Kazemi, 268 votes
Minister of Health and Medical Education: Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, 163 votes
Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare: Ahmad Meidari, 191 votes
Minister of Justice: Amin Hossein Rahimi, 268 votes
Minister of Defense: Aziz Nasirzadeh, 281 votes
Minister of Roads: Ms. Farzaneh Sadegh Malvajerd, 231 votes
Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade: Mohammad Atabak, 231 votes
Minister of Science: Hossein Simayi Sarraf, 221 votes
Minister of Culture: Seyed Abbas Saleh Shariati, 272 votes
Minister of Agriculture: Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh, 253 votes
Minister of Interior: Eskandar Momeni, 259 votes
Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts: Mohammadreza Salehi Amiri, 168 votes
Minister of Oil: Mohsen Paknejad, 222 votes
Minister of Energy: Abbas Aliabadi, 255 votes
Minister of Sports and Youth: Ahmad Donyamali, 253 votes
