The Iranian parliament on Thursday gave its vote of confidence to 18 of the 21 nominees proposed for ministerial posts, including one of the women candidates. According to Press TV, of the 19 approved ministers, Brigadier Ahmad Vahidi won the highest number of votes (227) and Marzieh-Vahid Dastjerdi became Iran's first woman minister since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The nominees who failed to win the parliament's approval were the proposed candidates for the ministries of welfare and social security, energy, and education, Fatemeh Ajorlou, Mohammad Aliabadi, and Sousan Keshavarz, respectively. Ajorlou got only 76 votes, much less than the required 143 votes. Aliabadi fell short of gaining the vote of confidence by six votes, and Keshavarz got the lowest approval with just 49 votes.
The new cabinet is set to hold its first meeting in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Sunday. President Ahmadinejad has invited all the parliamentarians to take part in the planned meeting.
