The Challenges of Forming a Government
Mr. Pezeshkian’s announcement of the method for selecting ministers, heads of important organizations, and vice presidents sparked two different reactions.
One group considered it a show and believed that this method was not suitable and effective for selecting ministers.
The president should choose the minister with a limited number of advisors and introduce them after consulting with high officials and the parliament.
This is the method that has been used in all 13 previous governments, although during Mr. Khatami’s term, the advisors involved in this process were more numerous, and during Mr. Hashemi’s term, for various reasons, they were fewer, and he himself was more knowledgeable than others in recognizing individuals and candidates due to his extensive experience in the parliament.
In the previous government, there were also negative reports about this process, but the most interesting was that even for selecting a replacement for a minister who failed to get approval, they would wait for months. The other group, which had a louder voice, defended Mr. Pezeshkian’s second and announced method, and if they saw any flaws in it, they considered them much less than the flaws of the first method.
In this method, for each position, a number of experts, former ministers, and relevant individuals and institutions sit together to evaluate the suitable candidates who have nominated themselves and assess them according to a specific table and clear variables, introducing the best ones based on approved considerations.
This process was accompanied by supervision and validation to ensure that there were no flaws in the results.
The collection of these individuals was given to Mr. Pezeshkian’s steering council, and after going through the necessary processes and discussions in this council, another vote was taken, and finally, a collection with the priorities of the working group and the steering council was sent to Mr. Pezeshkian and his final advisors for the final decision.
In these lists, dozens of managerial and expert individuals are present who have also undergone managerial and professional qualification evaluations, and all of them are accessible, people whose names many involved parties had not even heard.
From this point on, the selections are not necessarily according to the order of the sent list, nor was it intended to be, because if it were, only one person would be introduced.
At this stage, political considerations are also added to the process, which causes a gap between the final result and the steering council’s list.
But this should not be considered a flaw because everyone knew from the beginning that such an occurrence would inevitably happen. With these considerations, the mentioned process has not only attracted the participation of over 500 people but also put about 1500 people up for evaluation.
A good archive of qualified individuals has also been created, and more importantly, it will significantly impact the final outcome and output.
Therefore, if we still find criticisms regarding some proposed options, while expressing our criticisms, which should also be based on relatively certain news and not on media atmospherics and unfounded rumors, supporting this process will help improve the selection of ministers and officials in a non-partisan system.
Naturally, if there were a developed and partisan electoral structure and system in the country, many existing flaws would be resolved.
Nevertheless, we should not disregard or undervalue the core issue and the experience of forming a new government due to some specific flaws or disagreements about some options, and we must remember that Mr. Pezeshkian’s actions and those of his advisors and associates have been a significant step forward in increasing transparency and utilizing the capacities and resources of Iranian society within the current non-partisan structure.
