Political Participation and Religious Freedom, Immediate Demands

Zahedan’s Friday prayer leader and the leader of the Sistan and Baluchistan province’s Sunni community, Molavi Abdolhamid, describes the Sunni community’s demands from the new administration in an interview with Rooz.

Reports recently released by social media networks indicated that Hassan Rohani received the highest margin of victory in Sistan and Baluchistan (73.3%). Below is Rooz’s interview with Molavi Abdolhamid:

Rooz: The latest election figures point to the Sistan and Baluchistan province and the Sunni community’s strong support for Mr. Rohani.  What are the reasons for this support?

Molavi Abdolhamid: The Sunni community loves its homeland and the Islamic Republic. Its participation was due to the fact that it felt Mr. Rohani is able to solve its problems.  All Iranians are currently facing problems, but the Sunni community is facing even more problems.  People felt that Mr. Rohani is able to follow through with his promises, and that is why they gave him the highest number of votes.

Rooz: You and other leaders in the Sunni community have voiced the community’s demands many times over the years.  What demands of the Sunni community are currently of higher priority?

Molavi Abdolhamid: The priority for the Sunni community is to eliminate discrimination; that hiring and personnel decisions on the national, provincial and local levels to be fair. The Sunni community would love to participate in the governance of its country. It wants to stand alongside its Shia brothers in building this country. One demand of the Sunni community is to be on equal footing in terms of responsibility for running its homeland.  Another demand is to have religious freedom and a measure of self-determination.

Rooz: The Sunni community’s strong participation in the election was one of the novel aspects of this election. What explains this strong participation?

Molavi Abdolhamid: The Sunni community listened to the speeches, remarks and the various debates after all.  The only candidate that raised hope among the Sunni community was Mr. Rohani. People concluded that they can overcome their problems with his election. They felt that he was a serious man who knew the issues.  That is why they expect him to use representatives from among the centrist principlists, centrist reformists and also ethnic and religious minorities in various posts in the administration.  People felt that he wants to establish a national unity; an inviting government that includes all Iranians.  This is our demand and the demand of people as well: that this administration forms a national unity government.