A leading figure of Iran\u2019s minority Sunnis endorsed moderate President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday ahead of this week\u2019s election, despite the government\u2019s \u201cshortcomings\u201d.
\nSunnis make up around five to 10 percent of Iran\u2019s 80 million population, which is overwhelmingly from the Shia sect of Islam.
\nReligious leader Molavi Abdol Hamid said \u201cthe atmosphere for Sunnis has been a little more relaxed\u201d since Rouhani took power in 2013, and that most would support him in Friday\u2019s election.
\nAbdol Hamid repeated calls for greater Sunni representation in local and national government, and more action on discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sunni community believes that this government, despite its problems and weaknesses, has had more strong points, and we hope if the current government takes office again, it will do more to resolve those problems and shortcomings,\u201d he said in comments carried by his website.
\nHe was speaking in Sistan Baluchistan province, a Sunni-majority region in southeastern Iran bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
\nRouhani is leading in official polls, but faces a tough fight for re-election against conservative rivals who accuse him of failing to boost the struggling economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A leading figure of Iran\u2019s minority Sunnis endorsed moderate President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday ahead of this week\u2019s election, despite the government\u2019s \u201cshortcomings\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n