Tehran (AsiaNews) Support for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dropped considerably. If a year ago 60 per cent of respondents approved of his new administration's performance, on the same question this year 65 per cent said they were not satisfied. Like last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) organisation carried out the same survey using a sample representation from Iran's population, this according to the Iranian online paper Rooz.
It is worth noting that the Aftab News Agency published the results of an online survey of 3,368 respondents. Asked "How do you rate Ahmadinejad's popularity now as opposed to one year ago?," 65.5 per cent said "less popular," 25.4 "more popular," and close to 9 per cent "not changed."
Conversely, a month ago the Iranian government's deputy press secretary, Mohammad Paryab, released the annual report on the administration's performance. Among its accomplishments, Paryab listed the presence of government officials among Hezbollahi supporters, the passage of more than 1000 executive orders, more than 140 visits to towns and villages, and the president's personal handling of 11,000 letters (40 letters per day on average). He also listed "Ahmadinejad's rising popularity in surveys taken in Islamic countries" as a notable achievement of his administration in the past year.
