Ahmadinejad to appoint female vice president

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that he would appoint a female vice president to give greater representation to women in his administration. Ahmadinejad earlier appointed three female cabinet ministers, but parliament rejected two of them and endorsed only Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi as health minister. She became the first female minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.

After the parliament's rejections of his two other nominees, Ahmadinejad appointed another woman to head the education ministry. According to state television, Ahmadinejad introduced parliament deputy Fatemeh Alia as a replacement for the rejected Susan Keshavarz.

Keshavarz has since been appointed by the president as an adviser on education and training.

Ahmadinejad did not disclose the name of his new choice for vice president or in which field she would be engaged.