Iran’s parliament has voted to remove Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Masoud Karbasian from office.
A total of 137 MPs voted for Karbasian’s removal while 121 voted in favor of him remaining in office.
He follows Ali Rabiei, Iran’s former minister of labor and social welfare, who was voted out by the parliament only two weeks ago.
A motion to impeach Karbasian was submitted to the parliament’s presiding board with 33 signatures on August 19.
The MPs, who set forth the motion, sought impeachment for the minister over a range of issues that included the inability to manage the country’s economic affairs, failure to implement policies for bolstering resistance economy, lack of proper supervision of financial transactions and the inability to promote economic transparency.
Rabiei was ousted with 129 votes against, 111 votes in favor and 3 abstentions.
The main issues for which he was impeached included an increase in unemployment, closure of small and medium-sized industrial units, insurance policies for pensioners and the status of Iran’s leading pension fund – the Social Security Investment Company (SHASTA).
President Hassan Rouhani has three months to present replacements for Karbasian and Rabiei to the parliament for approval.