Top MPs to Discuss Cabinet Makeup With Rouhani

The spokesman of Majlis Presiding Board said its members are going to hold a meeting with Hassan Rouhani, as the newly-reelected president is preparing to nominate ministers.

Speaking to IRNA on Monday, Behrouz Nemati said the discussions would focus on "criteria for selecting the Cabinet", and the board members are not seeking "shares" in the government.

"Our goal is to help the government form a competent Cabinet and we will not talk about individuals," he said.

Rouhani, a centrist cleric, was reelected on a platform of seeking better international relations and keeping up with efforts at improving peoples' livelihood.

His inauguration is scheduled for August 5 and he will propose his 18 Cabinet members to parliament for a vote of confidence on the same day.

The lawmakers have one week to examine the credentials of candidates and then the aspirants will appear before the parliament to outline their plan of action and secure confirmation votes.

Nemati said major factions of the parliament, including his own faction of independents, seek to hold meetings on the Cabinet makeup with Rouhani who announced earlier this month that he intends to appoint "young" ministers.

Lawmakers from the two main political camps, reformists and principlists have announced in recent weeks that they want a say in how the Cabinet is selected.

Last Thursday, Mohammad Reza Aref, chairman of the Hope faction compromised mostly of reformists and moderates aligned with the president, called on Rouhani to take into account the opinions of his staunch supporters.

Hamid Reza Haji-Babaei, who leads the principlist faction, said on June 7 they want to contact Rouhani on the new Cabinet.

There are widespread media speculations about possible changes in Rouhani's second Cabinet, mostly suggesting that veteran ministers, such as Industries, Mining and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh and Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi, are most likely to be dropped.