TEHRAN Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is scheduled to announce his second cabinet next week. Unofficial reports say that Khatami's next cabinet would not have serious changes in its political makeup, despite the change in characters.

Despite people's expectations that the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) would not have a strong presence in Khatami's next cabinet, in practice it seems this is not the case.

In economics, by the removal of Finance and Economy Minister Hossein Namazi, and reinstatement of Mohsen Nourbakhsh in his post of governor of the Central Bank of Iran, the ECP's position was reinforced. In Culture, by the removal of Minister of Education Hossein Mozaffar and his replacement with Alaqmandan, the ECP's hand is strengthened, as it was when Ataollah Mohajerani was culture and Islamic guidance minister.

The post of president's deputy for executive affairs was supposed to be abolished from the cabinet, in order remove another ECP member, Mohammad Hashemi. Now there are rumors that the post will not be abolished.

An intense dispute between the ECP and its main rival, the Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP), on the threshold of the elections for the Sixth Parliament in February 2000 gave people the impression that the IIPP is seeking to enact true reforms in society.

At the time, the IIPP used its propagandists, such as Akbar Ganji and Abbas Abdi, to attack the ECP's backer and ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The attacks were mainly aimed at Rafsanjani's previous governments. This way, the society reached the conclusion that the ECP, a party which was born inside the previous government, would be removed rapidly.

But not much later, the IIPP, which won a majority in the Parliament, returned to the ECP and forgot all the accusations it had leveled against Rafsanjani via the above-mentioned propagandists.

Some 2nd Khordad Front MPs protested against unannounced meetings between IIPP MPs and Expediency Council Chief Rafsanjani. A TEHRAN TIMES report on the meetings was denied at the time.

Meetings between prominent reformist Parliament member Behzad Nabavi and Rafsanjani, as well as Nabavi's suggesting Hossein Marashi, a close relative of Rafsanjani, to Majlis Speaker Mahdi Karrubi to be one of Parliament's representatives to the committee to fight against corruption are proof of deals between the two parties and the Khatami and Rafsanjani people. This was highlighted by the fact that President Khatami objected to Karrubi's proposal to remove Marashi from the committee.

The TEHRAN TIMES reported in early July that five ministers will definitely be leaving the cabinet.

The five are Health Minister Mohammad Farhadi, Labor Minister Hossein Kamali, Education Minister Hossein Mozaffar, Finance Minister Hossein Namazi and Justice Minister Esmaeil Shoushtari.

Kamal Kharrazi, Ahmad Masjed-Jame'i and Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani will definitely remain at their present portfolios in the ministries of foreign affairs, culture and Islamic guidance, and defense, the TEHRAN TIMES report said.

The report said that the Chief of the President's Office, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, would give his position to the president's brother, Ali Khatami, and would be appointed deputy president for parliamentary affairs.

It suggested that Ataollah Mohajerani would remain deputy president with new duties as chief of the tourism and cultural heritage organizations.