Cabinet Approved Because of Khamenei and Not Qualifications

The fact that 18 of Ahmadinejad's cabinet ministers were approved has a large part to do with the fact that Khamenei pressured parliament into supporting them. Thus parliament did not vote based on qualifications, but rather of Ahmadinejad's recommendation:

The ISNA news agency quoted Deputy Spearker Mohammad Reza Bahonar as saying that if Khamenei had not backed the proposed line-up, eight or nine nominees would have been rejected in Thursday's confidence vote rather than only three.

"The message of the leader played a big role," Bahonar said.

The conservative-dominated parliament approved 18 of 21 nominees for the cabinet, rejecting two of three women proposed and the would-be energy minister.

"If we had not received the leader's recommendations, probably eight or nine ministers would have failed to win the vote of confidence, and that would not have been a good start for the government," said Bahonar, a well-known critic of the president.

"If we had not received the message of the leader, the ministers of oil, industry, commerce, cooperatives, transport and foreign affairs would have been rejected," Bahonar added.