Iran’s minister of industry voted out by Parliament
Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Reza Fatemi Amin failed to regain the vote of confidence of the Iranian parliament and was removed by lawmakers, terminating the much-criticized minister’s term that had begun in August 2021.
Fatemi Amin attended an open session of Parliament on Sunday and took the podium to answer the questions of a number of lawmakers.
At the conclusion of the impeachment, the lawmakers voted for the motion to dismiss the minister, with 162 yes votes, two abstentions, and 102 no votes from a total of 272 votes. Six votes were invalid.
The parliamentarians grilled the minister over the skyrocketing car prices, “the SUV scandal,” and his poor handling of industrial and mining developments.
Nine MPs spoke against Fatemi Amin and his handling of the ministry, while only two MPs took their approvals of the controversial minister to the podium and spoke in favor of him.
Fatemi Amin’s defendants pointed out his “anti-corruption” record, dismissing all allegations against him. They also encouraged their peers to vote against the dismissal of Fatemi Amin “for the good of the country.”
President Ebrahim Raeisi and six of his ministers, his first vice president and vice president for parliamentary affairs also attended the open session to defend Fatemi Amin’s performance.
Raeisi lauded the parliament’s accountability while stating that sustainability in a ministry is of utmost importance, encouraging the lawmakers to vote against Fatemi Amin’s dismissal.
The discontent with the ministry’s performance started getting out of hand when the self-imposed ban on the import of foreign-made automobiles, which was made more than four years ago in reaction to the harsh economic sanctions on the country, finally caught up with the consequences of ignoring the supply and demand economic model.
President Raeisi’s predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, had in July 2018 officially banned cars imported in a Completely Built Unit (CBU) format, only allowing the Completely Knocked-Down (CKD) format where cars are imported in parts, not as an assembled unit.
As major Western partners withdrew from the Iranian market, the move also left the door open for CKD imports of a variety of Chinese vehicles, which have since flooded the market, according to Al Jazeera.
But a large share of the market remains in control of a small handful of local automakers. Chief among them are the state-run Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), as well as SAIPA, which have been responsible for making cars that have become increasingly unaffordable on the back of the currency crisis and the rising inflation.
As the demand far exceeded the number of cars supplied by domestic automakers, the Iranian people and their representatives in Parliament became outraged at how expensive the price tags have become and how late they can receive the cars on which they have spent their life savings.
What was pursued was a parliamentary impeachment process that blew up as the claims of a scandal circulated by a disgruntled MP.
On Wednesday, Ahmad Alireza Beigi, a lawmaker representing Tabriz, alleged that the Ministry of Industry handed out over 70 SUV remittances to his peers in Parliament as a gift in order to sway their votes against Fatemi Amin in November 2022, when he escaped another impeachment process, with 84 votes for, 182 votes against, and six abstentions.
Fatemi Amin however, vehemently denied the allegations in the open session of Parliament on Sunday, reiterating the statement of his ministry.
In time, the truth of the allegations will surely be revealed to Iranians, but whatever the case may be, eyes will not be turned away from the Iranian Parliament as it prepares itself to consider the next candidate President Raeisi nominates to head the Ministry of Industry.