Iran's Growing Conservative Rift

Leftovers on Iranian President's table on Sunday exceeded his expectation. It wasn't due to a sudden loss of appetite, rather it was too much food to eat almost alone.
Only 20 out of the 290 mostly conservative lawmakers invited by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a traditional Iftar feast to break the Ramadan fast had showed up, the reformist newspaper Etemad reported.
Tensions between the newly elected president and MPs has been simmering for a while over the cabinet formation and Ahmadinejad's refusal to discuss the ministerial appointments with them.
Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the vice speaker of the Iranian Parliament, said lawmakers would reject "about five" of the 11 Cabinet picks. Bahonar had threatened to push for a vote of no-confidence prior to the official Cabinet nomination by Ahmadinejad on Thursday.
The clerical faction in Iran's conservative-dominated parliament, headed by Mohammad Taqi Rahbar, has its own objections on Ahmadinejad's appointee. Rahbar demanded, alongside some other senior clerics of Qom, that Ahmadinejad reconsider his nomination of three women for his new cabinet due to what he called "religious uncertainties" about women managerial credentials. Ahmadinejad's cheesy decision to appoint 3 conservative women, Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi, 50, a gynecologist, for health minister; Fatemeh Ajorlu, 43, a lawmaker, for minister of welfare and social security; and Susan Keshavars, 44, a high-ranking employee of the Ministry of Education, for that ministry, earned the ire of Women's rights activists. "These women are just like him, only female," activist Parvin Ardalan told the Washington Post , referring to Ahmadinejad. "This is just an act to gain legitimacy among women."
More to the growing splits between Ahmadinejad backers, conservative rivals handed a new snub to president on Monday, appointing Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, whom the president fired from the post of intelligence minister, as the country's state prosecutor.
Ejehim, who was named by the head of the judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, was dismissed last month in a dispute that reportedly included the authorities' handling of the crackdown on pro-opposition street protesters following the disputed June 12 presidential election. Ahmadinejad publicly criticized Ejehi, saying "if he would have carried out his tasks properly, we would not have these problems on the streets" after the election.
However, his malicious firing-hiring turmoil highlights the new depths reached by the intra-conservative relations and sheds more light on the factional blame game among various bodies of the conservative camp since the crackdown on pro-opposition street protesters following the disputed June 12 presidential election
Larijani hinted he may prosecute the Ahmadinejad strongly backed security agents blamed for torture and other abuses against detainees during the crackdown.
On the other side of the rival conservative "Larijani Axis" stands Ali Larijani, Parliament Speaker and Sadeq's brother. He made it public that the Parliament, due to vote on affirming Ahmadinejad's cabinet line-up from August 30, will only adopt experienced and specialized candidates.
Ahmadinejad is widely viewed by fellow conservatives as giving top posts to close colleagues rather than spreading power among the camp’s factions.
Conservative tensions only add insult to injury.
Ahmadinejad limps into his second term stunned with a resilient reform movement who rejects to bestow any sort of legitimacy on a presidency they consider rigged.
Hence, Ahmadinejad's crisis, and the regime's corollary, are far from over and the coming days are just a testimony to the bumpy rides ahead.