Mawlana Abdol-Hamid, the famous Sunni scholar in Iran, has declared that most Sunnis are inclined to vote for the current president, Hassan Rouhani, in the upcoming May 19 election, despite their complaints about his government.
\nKhateeb and Friday leader of the southeastern city of Zahedan and a spiritual leader of the Sunni community in Iran was talking with Dr. Mahmoud Sadeqi, the reformist member of the Islamic Council Assembly (parliament).
\nHe also expressed hope that if Rouhani is elected, more serious attempts will be made to resolve existing difficulties.
\nSunniOnline, the official website of the Sunni community has quoted Shaikh Abdol-Hamid as saying that after consultations, Sunni community leaders have concluded that compared with the former government of Mahmud Ahmadinejad the overall atmosphere has been more open and freer during the current government. As a result, he said, the majority of Sunnis feel inclined to vote for Rouhani.
\nThe rector of Darululoom Zahedan repeated his recent complaints that Sunnis are not appointed in high-level governmental positions and a \u201clack of support from reformists when the Sunni community faces problems, despite the fact that Sunnis have supported [Rouhani\u2019s] government.\u201d
\nFour years ago, regions with substantial Sunni populations, such as Kurdish and Turkmen areas and Sistan-Baluchistan Province, gave the highest vote to Rouhani.
\nIn Iran, Sunnis have been denied certain civic rights, including appointment to high-level government positions, although two years ago, a Sunni was appointed for the first time as ambassador to Vietnam and Cambodia. The Rouhani government has also appointed another Sunni, Emad Hosseini, as deputy oil minister.<\/p>\n
Sunni elites support Rouhani<\/strong> Mawlana Abdol-Hamid, the famous Sunni scholar in Iran, has declared that most Sunnis are inclined to vote for the current president, Hassan Rouhani, in the upcoming May 19 election, despite their complaints about his government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,31,29],"tags":[197,78,198,86],"class_list":["post-7591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-c58-ahl-al-sunna-in-iran","category-c67-sunni-community-in-iran","tag-election","tag-iran","tag-rouhani","tag-sunnis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nFollowing the statement of Mawlana Abdol-Hamid, the newly announced Strategic Council of Iranian Sunnis issued a statement on the 12th presidential election. The council, that represents Iranian Sunnis, had discussed with the candidates or their representatives on the problems of the Sunni community.
\nAccording to the statement of the Strategic Council, the Iranian Sunnis want \u201cto give another chance to the current government for the continuation of country\u2019s progress and passing the bottleneck\u201d.
\nThe Sunni bloc in the Islamic Consultative Assembly also endorsed Rouhani, calling on all sects and ethnic communities to take part in the 19 May elections.
\nThere has been a conference of Tehran\u2019s Sunnis in support of Rouhani, too. The message of Shaikh Abdol-Hamid, the most influential scholar of the Sunni community, was read by his representative in the conference.
\nThe first vice president of Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri said in the conference: \u201cI met last week with Shaikh Abdol-Hamid Isma\u2019eelzahi, Imam of the Sunnis in Iran, and some Sunni scholars,\u201d explained Jahangiri, \u201cand promised to defend the rights of Sunni citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"