Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the candidate for the largest public support in the country for the presidency, according to a new poll published on the Iran Weir news website.
According to the survey, conducted by an independent polling institute among more than 1,000 Iranian citizens aged 18 and over, 37% of respondents said they wanted to see Ahmadinejad in office. After Ahmadinejad is the conservative politician Muhammad Bakr Kalibaf, who enjoys ten percent support.
The results of the survey indicate the collapse of the reformist camp in Iran, many of whose supporters are desperate for hope of changing the ayatollahs’ regime from within and are not participating in the election campaign. Evidence of this trend was given in the state parliamentary elections in February in which the Conservatives won by a large majority, but the turnout was particularly low.
The one who gets a cold shoulder in the poll is the current president, Hassan Rouhani, about 48% of the respondents answered that they are not at all satisfied with his conduct and 16% answered that they are not satisfied with his conduct to some extent. Rouhani, who is considered by the reformists as a candidate for compromise, is criticized by both camps and is considered responsible for the country’s desperate economic situation.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected president in 2009, is considered the most radical and conservative president Iran has ever known, and his frequent threats against Israel and antisemitic rhetoric in his speeches have made him an assigned figure in the West as well. Even before he ascended the presidency, Ahmadinejad became known for his extremist anti-Israel stances when he delivered a speech entitled “A World Without Zionism.”
Ahmadinejad also managed to provoke the anger of progressive circles in the United States when during an interview at Columbia University he claimed that there are no homosexuals in his country. In Iran, however, Ahmadinejad is seen as a humble politician who supports the lower strata of society and fights corruption.
The presidential election in Iran is expected to take place in June of next year and it is not yet clear who will be allowed to run in the election as a candidate. Ahmadinejad was previously disqualified by the Electoral Commission, subject to the will of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.