Iran's parliamentarians threw out President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's third nominee for oil minister on Wednesday, blowing the world's fourth biggest crude producer into uncharted constitutional waters.
Iran's oil ministry, the mainstay of the economy, has been rudderless since August and parliamentary hostility to the new president has exposed bitter rifts in the conservative camp.
Several analysts and lawmakers have speculated the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog, may have to take the helm. The president is also at odds with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog over Iran's uranium conversion programme.
"This vote of no-confidence should carry a message to Ahmadinejad about his method of choosing his oil ministers," conservative lawmaker Ali Riaz told Reuters after the vote.
Out of 254 parliamentarians who cast votes, only 77 voted in favour of Mohsen Tasalloti, a veteran of the petrochemicals industry. Lawmakers heartily congratulated each other when the results of the vote were read out. Lawmakers accused Ahmadinejad of only consulting with a small number of his close allies instead of with them.