TEHRAN (PIN) – President Mahmud Ahmadinejad here Wednesday introduced Gholamhossein Nozari and Ali-Akbar Mehrabian in two separate letters to lawmakers as nominees for vacant oil and industries and mines ministerial posts.

The Islamic Consultative Assembly Vice Speaker Mohammadreza Bahonar read out the president’s letters in Wednesday’s open session, saying the MPs would discuss the issue on Nov. 13.
He said Majlis (parliament) would be off next week and the lawmakers were scheduled to make their decisions on efficiency of the two nominees on Nov. 13.
Earlier in the day, Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said he had asked Ahmadinejad to introduce nominees for vacant oil and industries portfolios Wednesday.
He made the statement in response to the call for introduction of nominees by Bandar Anzali representative Hadi Haqshenas in Wednesday’s parliamentary session.
Ahmadinejad was expected to introduce nominees by Oct. 31, an MP had already said.
Hamid-Reza Haj-Babaii, a member of Majlis Presiding Board, told PIN, “Based on Article 135 of the Constitution, the president reserves the right to appoint a caretaker for a ministry without a minister for maximum three months and all processes of election of a minister including introduction to Majlis and winning of lawmakers’ vote of confidence must take place within the three months.”
He added Nov. 21 would mark the end of the three-month period Gholamhossein Nozari and Ali-Akbar Mehrabian would be serving as acting oil as well as industries and mines ministers respectively.
“The duo should be proposed as nominees to the Majlis by Oct. 31 and the MPs decide whether to give their vote of confidence,” said the official.
Nozari and Mehrabian replaced Alireza Tahmasbi and Seyyed Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh on Aug. 12, 2007, respectively.