TEHRAN -- The Majlis Sunday gave a vote of confidence to Mohammad Abbasi, a nominee of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to fill the cooperatives portfolio.

Of 251 MPs present at the session 155 voted for, 70 against, and 20 abstained.

The new nominee is the fourth MP entering the cabinet.

The MPs-turned-ministers are Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki, Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Davud Danesh-Jafari, and Welfare and Social Security Minister Abdol-Reza Mesri.

The president, in a letter to Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, endorsed another reshuffle of his cabinet and introduced MP Abbasi to Majlis as his nominee for the vacant post of minister of cooperatives on October 29.

Abbasi represented the Gorgan and Aq-Qala constituency. He was a member of the Majlis Planning and Budget Committee. He holds a PhD in strategic management.

He had also served as chancellor of the Qaemshahr Azad University and also deputy governor-general of Mazandaran Province for planning affairs.