In all recent presidential elections in Iran, Reformist candidates have managed to win the majority of votes in Kurdish regions. In June, Hassan Rouhani received 71% of the votes in Kurdistan. In his campaign, Rouhani had promised to appoint locals to local administrative positions in different regions of the country. He had also said that he will "work on removing the stain of discrimination and inequality from the face of the religious and ethnic minorities in Iran."

After the new administration took office, many were hoping to see Rouhani nominate a Sunni Kurd as one of his cabinet members. There were discussions regarding the possibility of Bijan Zolfaghar Nasab, a famous soccer coach, becoming the new minister of youth affairs and sports; however, this did not happen.

The Reformist political activists were also hoping to see a Sunni Kurd, for the first time since the transitional government of Mehdi Bazargan, appointed as the new governor of Kurdistan. After a three-month delay, Rouhani's administration chose Abdolmohammad  Zahedi as the 17th governor of Kurdistan. At the inaugural ceremony of this nonlocal official, the interior minister said, "After much research and probing, the Interior Ministry could not find a local official with enough expertise and experience for the governorship of Kurdistan."

This statement provoked the Sunnis in Kurdistan. According to the Kermanshah Post, the Friday prayer imam of Paveh responded by saying, "Comments such as these are neither accurate nor beneficial. In Kermanshah and Kurdistan we have many officials who can manage not only Kurdistan but Shiraz and Esfahan, too."