Incumbent Rouhani tries to boost Kurdish support at rally in Hamedan
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — During a re-election campaign event in Hamedan, incumbent Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pointed to changes made under his presidency including the construction of railways, job creation for women, and a path to peaceful co-existence for all religious sects, according to Iranian news.
While addressing a crowd at Hamedan’s main sports stadium on his one-day official visit, Rouhani said that contrary to the concerned groups’ desire, this government inaugurated Hamedan-Tehran railway [on Monday] and will open Kermanshah railway next month, according to IRNA state news on Monday.
Hamedan is the fourth-most populous city in Iran lies about halfway between Tehran and Sulaimani.
Last week, Rouhani reportedly cancelled a trip to the impoverished Kurdish city of Kermanshah after a car factory which the president was scheduled to inaugurate was still under construction and not fully established.
IRNA reported Rouhani as adding from the rally at Hamedan that the current government plans to connect the country to the world through the openings of the Orumieh-Rasht and Tabriz railways in the coming months.
Sunni and Kurds are minority sects and ethnicities in the primarily Shiite and Persian country.
“Our way is the way of peaceful co-existence of all religious sects,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying.
He reportedly also spoke about gender equality.
“I know these people, they are one who wanted to build wall between men and women in the street sidewalks as they did this in the work-places,” IRNA reported Rouhani as saying.
“They are those who dismissed 860,000 women from work, but we created jobs for 750,000 women in the past four years,” he reportedly added.
Widely considered as representing the so-called moderate camp in Iran, Rouhani appears set to receive the largest share of Kurdish votes across the northwestern regions of Iran as he did during 2013 presidential election.
While addressing a crowd at Hamedan’s main sports stadium on his one-day official visit, Rouhani said that contrary to the concerned groups’ desire, this government inaugurated Hamedan-Tehran railway [on Monday] and will open Kermanshah railway next month, according to IRNA state news on Monday.
Hamedan is the fourth-most populous city in Iran lies about halfway between Tehran and Sulaimani.
Last week, Rouhani reportedly cancelled a trip to the impoverished Kurdish city of Kermanshah after a car factory which the president was scheduled to inaugurate was still under construction and not fully established.
IRNA reported Rouhani as adding from the rally at Hamedan that the current government plans to connect the country to the world through the openings of the Orumieh-Rasht and Tabriz railways in the coming months.
Sunni and Kurds are minority sects and ethnicities in the primarily Shiite and Persian country.
“Our way is the way of peaceful co-existence of all religious sects,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying.
He reportedly also spoke about gender equality.
“I know these people, they are one who wanted to build wall between men and women in the street sidewalks as they did this in the work-places,” IRNA reported Rouhani as saying.
“They are those who dismissed 860,000 women from work, but we created jobs for 750,000 women in the past four years,” he reportedly added.
Widely considered as representing the so-called moderate camp in Iran, Rouhani appears set to receive the largest share of Kurdish votes across the northwestern regions of Iran as he did during 2013 presidential election.
Iran's 12th presidential elections are scheduled to be held on May 19.
In addition to Rouhani of the Moderation and Development Party, there are five candidates, who were vetted by the Supreme Leader.
They include Ebrahim Raisi of the Combatant Clergy Association, Mostafa Mir-Salim of the Islamic Coalition Party, Eshaq Jahangiri and Mostafa Hashemitaba of the Executives of Construction Party, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf of the Population for Progress and Justice.
The contest will come down to three power centers: the clergy (Raisi), the military/security wing (Ghalibaf) and the technocrats (Rouhani), Saeid Golkar of Northwestern University, wrote in an April 24 opinion-editorial in Al-Jazeera.