Majlis starts debating proposed ministerial candidates
Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) has started a session to assess the qualifications and then vote on three candidates proposed by the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to head the ministries of Sports and Youth Affairs, Culture and Islamic Guidance, and Education.
The session started on Tuesday, with the debate on the candidates as the most important item on the agenda of the day’s open parliamentary session. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani is presiding over the session.
President Rouhani is attending the Parliament session and gave a speech in defense of his proposed candidates.
The Iranian president had written to Speaker Larijani earlier in the month, proposing Massoud Soltanifar, Reza Salehi-Amiri, and Fakhroddin Ahmadi Danesh-Ashtiani as his candidates to head the three ministries of Sports and Youth Affairs, Culture and Islamic Guidance, and Education respectively.
Soltanifar is the current vice president and the head of the Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization; Salehi-Amiri is the current head of the National Library and Archives Organization of Iran; and Danesh-Ashtiani is a university professor.
The previous heads of the three ministries, namely Ministers Mahmoud Goudarzi, Ali Jannati, and Ali Asghar Fani, resigned earlier.
A number of other cabinet members are present at the Tuesday parliament session. Among them are Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri.
The proposed candidates spoke about their credentials in the Tuesday session and lawmakers for and against them took turns to speak, too.
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