Parliament rejects President Rouhani's nominee for post of science minister
(18 Nov 2014) Iran's parliament on Tuesday rejected President Hassan Rouhani's nominee for the post of science minister over his pro-reform tendencies.
The conservative-dominated 290-seat chamber voted 171-70 against the candidacy of Fakhroddin Ahamadi Danesh Ashtiani.
There were 257 lawmakers in attendance and 16 abstained from voting.
The vote is an indication of the increasing rift between the moderate president and his hardline opponents in parliament - who are angry over Rouhani's decision to give ground to pro-western voices and reformists in the universities.
The president, a relative moderate cleric elected last year, has promised to promote greater openness in the Islamic republic, but has run into fierce resistance from hard-liners in the government.
Rouhani on Tuesday rejected accusations that he has proposed his candidates under pressures from political parties, mainly the reformists.
He pleaded to the MPs to grant a vote of confidence to Ashtiani and allow the ministry to continue its work.
However Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, a hardline parliamentarian claimed that parliament would continue to reject candidates like Ashtiani.
In October the parliament rejected Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi, another nominee for the same post and the same body dismissed former-Science Minister Reza Faraji Dana in August over similar allegations.
In 2013 they also rejected Jafar Milimonfared, Rouhani's first candidate following his election as president.
One of the main charges against Ashtiani was his participation in protests following the controversial 2009 presidential elections that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinjead to power for a second term, beating his pro-reform rivals.
Conservatives and hardliners often refer to these protests as "sedition".
Footage was screened in the Iranian parliament on Tuesday allegedly showing Ashtiani participating in one such protest.
Ashtiani, 59, who holds a doctorate in seismology engineering from London Imperial College, served as a deputy science minister from 1997-2003 under reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
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The conservative-dominated 290-seat chamber voted 171-70 against the candidacy of Fakhroddin Ahamadi Danesh Ashtiani.
There were 257 lawmakers in attendance and 16 abstained from voting.
The vote is an indication of the increasing rift between the moderate president and his hardline opponents in parliament - who are angry over Rouhani's decision to give ground to pro-western voices and reformists in the universities.
The president, a relative moderate cleric elected last year, has promised to promote greater openness in the Islamic republic, but has run into fierce resistance from hard-liners in the government.
Rouhani on Tuesday rejected accusations that he has proposed his candidates under pressures from political parties, mainly the reformists.
He pleaded to the MPs to grant a vote of confidence to Ashtiani and allow the ministry to continue its work.
However Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, a hardline parliamentarian claimed that parliament would continue to reject candidates like Ashtiani.
In October the parliament rejected Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi, another nominee for the same post and the same body dismissed former-Science Minister Reza Faraji Dana in August over similar allegations.
In 2013 they also rejected Jafar Milimonfared, Rouhani's first candidate following his election as president.
One of the main charges against Ashtiani was his participation in protests following the controversial 2009 presidential elections that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinjead to power for a second term, beating his pro-reform rivals.
Conservatives and hardliners often refer to these protests as "sedition".
Footage was screened in the Iranian parliament on Tuesday allegedly showing Ashtiani participating in one such protest.
Ashtiani, 59, who holds a doctorate in seismology engineering from London Imperial College, served as a deputy science minister from 1997-2003 under reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
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Twitter: Twitter: AP_Archive
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You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
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