Iranians favour election of supreme leader, survey shows
Iranians favour election of supreme leader, survey shows
Washington: As Iran's brief election campaign for parliament heats up, a new public opinion poll shows that the vast majority of Iranians would like to directly elect their supreme leader in a free vote - and be able to replace him.
The power of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has long been at the heart of political debate in Iran, because the supreme leader can veto legislation, presidential actions, judicial decisions and candidates for office.
Iran's top political position has basically become a lifetime job, even though a panel of 86 religious scholars elected every eight years has the right to dismiss him. Khamenei has held the job since 1989.
But now, almost nine out of 10 voters surveyed want the top political position to be accountable to voters, the poll found.
The survey shows limited interest in the current political choices for parliament, with about one-third of voters preferring neither reformists nor hardline conservatives.
Among those polled, only 8 per cent favour conservatives, and 22 per cent want to vote for reformers. One out of four voters surveyed in all 30 provinces said they did not know who they would vote for in the election on March 14.
Although more than 80 per cent of those polled said they would vote, Iranians are not inspired by any of the candidates. The poll was carried out last month by the nonprofit Terror Free Tomorrow and D3 Systems Inc international polling and research group.
Highlights most want ties with US
- More than three-quarters of Iranians polled favour normal relations and trade with the United States, but Iranians are less supportive of concessions to the West than they were in the 2007 poll by the same groups.
The three most important steps Washington could take to improve relations with Tehran are withdrawing its forces from Iraq, increasing visas for study and work in the United States, and signing a trade deal between the two countries, the poll found. - Just over half of the Iranians polled favour developing nuclear weapons. Since June, the number of Iranians who believe that that goal is "not at all important" has dropped from one-third to one-fifth.
- About six out of 10 Iranians also said they support the Iranian government's military and financial assistance to Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraq's Shiite militias and Palestinian fighter groups, the survey reported.
