TEHRAN - The Iranian parliament on Tuesday refused to vote for proposed education minister Masoud Fayazi.

Out of 260 legislators present in the 290-seat parliament, 140 voted against Fayazi and 115 voted in his favor. Five MPs also abstained.

President Ebrahim Raisi had attended the parliament to defend his nominee for education minister.

Defending his plans, Fayazi said he was committed to implement the “reform document” at the ministry.

During the hearing confirmation, a number of MPs spoke in his favor and some others against.

MP Seyyed Kazem Delkhosh complained that President Raisi had not “consulted” with the Majlis about his pick for the ministry. 

However, MP Abbas Goudarzi said, “Mr. Fayazi has an active mind and has enough mastery over problems of the Ministry of Education and has presented solutions.”

Most MPs sitting on the Majlis Education and Research Committee also opposed Fayazi. In a statement read out at the Majlis, they said Fayazi has had no experience of teaching in state-run schools.  The statement said Fayazi has had an experience in research activities, especially at the Majlis Research Center, and in his plans presented to the parliament he had pointed to the “priorities” that should be sought at the Education Ministry and referred to the “harms and problems” facing the ministry, but “there is no reassuring record of his activities in the Ministry of Education.”

After the nominee for education minister failed to win the necessary votes, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf asked President Raisi to nominate the candidate for the post in due time.

“Hopefully, Mr. Raisi will name the next proposed minister in the shortest time so that the Majlis also can do its studies,” Qalibaf remarked.

Qalibaf attributed MPs’ sensitivity toward education minister nominees to the importance of the ministry, saying there has been such curiosity toward a person who leads the Education Ministry over the past 16 years.

Reza Hajipour, the spokesman for the Majlis Education and Research Committee, said the president has only seven days to nominate a new education minister.

Also on August 25, President Raisi’s first nominee for education minister, Hossein Baghgoli, failed to win the confidence of parliamentarians.  He was the only proposed minister who failed to win vote of confidence. He just won 76 votes.