Iran’s parliament on Wednesday approved almost all President Ebrahim Raisi’s cabinet choices in an open session, enabling him to form a government after he was inaugurated earlier this month.

Lawmakers approved one-by-one 18 out of 19 candidates chosen by Raisi for the ministerial posts, rejecting only the pick for the education portfolio, thus requiring the president to make another choice for that post.

In a decree issued on Wednesday, Raisi appointed Mohsen Rezaei, one of his rivals in elections, as the vice president for economic affairs, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Economic Coordination of the heads of branches of power, and the secretary of the Administration’s Economic Headquarters.

Source: Agencies