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TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday he plans to appoint at least three women ministers to his new cabinet to be formally unveiled next week, a first in the Islamic republic.
Ahmadinejad, a hardliner whose re-election in June set off the worst crisis in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic, said he would submit his new line-up to the 290-member parliament on Wednesday.
He said in a live television interview he would propose Fatemeh Ajorlou for the welfare and social security ministry and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi for the health ministry.
“At least one other woman will be presented,” he added.
Ahmadinejad also announced his choice for the powerful intelligence portfolio after sacking the previous holder in a row over another controversial appointment, and said he would keep on the industry and economic ministers.
He said the main criteria for choosing his new team were “morality and commitment, efficiency as well as convergence and spirit of cooperation,” adding that there would also be younger people in the cabinet.
The 52-year-old was sworn in on August 5 for a second four-year term after his election triggered massive street protests by opposition demonstrators who charge his victory was a fraud.
In his inauguration speech, Ahmadinejad said he would continue to resist “oppressive powers,” pledging to campaign for social justice and root out corruption.
But in the election aftermath, Ahmadinejad also found himself at loggerheads with powerful elements even within his own conservative support base over his tardiness in dismissing his nominee as first vice president despite the orders of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The appointment of Ajorlou is likely to stir controversy over her involvement in the case of Abbas Palizdar, an Ahmadinejad supporter who was jailed for accusing several senior clerics, including the influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and their children of corruption.
Ajorlou and some other MPs were interrogated last year by prosecutors over their alleged help to Palizdar, who was reportedly on a parliamentary team which conducted a probe into the judiciary.
According to press reports, Ajorlou and another lawmaker were sentenced to two years in jail for disclosing classified documents although there is no official confirmation about the case.
The other woman nominee, Vahid Dastjerdi, is an academic and former MP.
In the previous administration Ahmadinejad had only two women in his cabinet but not in a ministerial capacity Fatemeh Vaez Javadi, a vice president heading the Environmental Organisation, and Zohreh Tabibzadeh Nouri, vice president for women and family affairs. Ahmadinejad also said he will name Heydar Moslehi, a former representive of Khamenei in the volunteer Basij militia and a strong supporter of the president, as intelligence minister.
He will also retain Ali Akbar Mehrabian at the industry ministry and Shamseddin Hosseini as economy minister.