TEHRAN, Aug 24: Iran’s parliament on Wednesday rocked President Mahmood Ahmadinejad’s fledgling government by rejecting four of his cabinet nominees, including the proposed new oil minister for OPEC’s second-largest crude producer.

The parliamentary confidence vote was a rude awakening for Ahmadinejad, a religious conservative who took office earlier this month promising to root out corruption and redistribute the Islamic state’s vast oil wealth to the poor.

The vote suggested Ahmadinejad would not always enjoy a smooth ride from parliament and pointed to rifts developing in the conservative camp which has driven reformists from all branches of power in the last three years.

Oil Ministry nominee Ali Saeedlou, a close Ahmadinejad ally who lawmakers said lacked oil industry experience, garnered just 101 votes from the 284 lawmakers present, well short of the simple majority required.

Lawmakers, the majority of whom are conservatives like Ahmadinejad, endorsed 17 of the president’s ministerial picks, putting well-known hardliners in charge of the ministries of intelligence, interior and culture.

Foreign Ministry nominee Manouchehr Mottaki was among those endorsed. An experienced former diplomat, Mottaki has said Iran must press ahead with its nuclear programme while maintaining negotiations with the West.

Along with Saeedlou, the nominees to head the ministries of higher education, cooperatives and social welfare failed to get sufficient votes.

Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddadadel said Ahmadinejad had three months to propose alternative nominees.

“Parliament had expected more important and better candidates to be assigned for these posts,” he told reporters.

—Reuters