Ali Fazel (asker) Mar 13, 2015:

Thanks.

Edward Plaisance Jr Mar 13, 2015:

My worry is that it might sound "too religious".

Another word just occurred to me ماموریت ...and this does not have any religious connotation. I think this will fit better.

Ali Fazel (asker) Mar 13, 2015:

aaaah! I think I got it. What about رسالت as in
با توجه به رسالتی که بر دوش دولت ها گذاشته شده است

I think this is very close to what you are saying. clearly رسالت is given to a person by the constituency (and in a specific sense by God) and I think it means the person is going to do it. What do you think?

Edward Plaisance Jr Mar 13, 2015:

comment... both of those words are OK, too..."mandate" comes from the Latin "mandare" meaning "to order" http://www.latin-dictionary.net/definition/26326/mando-manda...

It has kept this meaning to a degree...in the context here, it means that the people have given the authority to the government and WITH THE FULL EXPECTATION THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL CARRY OUT THE EXPECTATION.

This "EXPECTATION" is what is missing in all of the Persian equivalents.

In the US you will hear politicians making speeches about "...our mandate is to...." or "...my mandate is to...."...what they are saying is "this is why we were elected" or "the majority elected me/us to do this...and we are going to do it..." ....of course, it may never actually happen...

Ali Fazel (asker) Mar 13, 2015:

Thank you all for your help. I specially appreciate Amanollah and Edward's help. Now things are clearer to me. But what do you think of وکالت، نمایندگی in this context. As I understand it, a democratically elected government has been given the mandate (وکالت، نمایندگی) by the constituency to perform on their behalf, so the government should care about the principle of equity...