KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR, ASIA TONIGHT: Iran has a new cabinet. The nation's parliament approved the 20-member list sent in by President Mohammad Khatami. The decision came after several days of debate, during which some reformist legislators criticized Mr. Khatami's choices. Well, journalist Shirzad Bozorgmer is covering the story from Tehran. Shirzad, why were some of Mr. Khatami's reformist allies opposed to has cabinet choices?</s>SHIRZAD BOZORGMER, JOURNALIST: Well, for two major reasons: One is that the reformist camp supporting President Khatami itself is made up of several factions, each with their own particular agenda, and some of them felt that they did not have enough representation in the new cabinet; that was one reason. Another reason was that several of the cabinet members were genuinely viewed by some members of parliament, including reformists, as not being fully qualified. But the fact that everyone in parliament wanted the new government to start working made them vote for them so that they could begin work. But in the trend of voting in a relatively large number of abstentions in cases of some of the</s>SHINSHO: On a somewhat related front, how much of a blow has the sentencing to prison of the reformist lawmaker Fatima Hokikatzu (ph) been for the reformists?</s>BOZORGMER: It's been a blow, not just to Khatami (ph) itself, but, as you said, to all members of parliament because it wants more emphasize that there is no immunity for members of parliament, and this is what the conservative opponents of President Khatami believe that it should be this way, that there should be no immunity for members of parliament. And this issue is going to be debated again in parliament because, yesterday, Mrs.</s>SHINSHO: All right, journalist Shirzad Bozorgmer reporting there from Tehran. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iranian Parliament Narrowly Approves New Cabinet