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Squandered oil bonanza may bring down Iranian President
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| Parent(s) |
Candidate
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jan 15, 2008 03:08pm |
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| Category | Speculative |
| Media | - |
| News Date | Tuesday, January 15, 2008 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Oil at nearly $100 a barrel cannot keep Mahmoud Ahmadinejad safe in the presidency of Iran for ever. Finally, it seems as if his breathtaking economic mismanagement, squandering an unprecedented bonanza, may prise him from office.
His critics have been predicting from his election in June 2005 that his wilful ignorance of economics would lead to his downfall. They have been wrong so far because of oil prices even higher than expected; a still-deep hunger among the very poor for Ahmadinejad's message; and his fortuitously successful handling of the nuclear dispute with the West.
The parliamentary elections in March will be the best test of his support — and of whether clerics and other leading figures now want to turf him out. No successor is likely to be as amenable as the West wants on the nuclear front but even if Iranians find that standoff a source of national pride they may now reckon that they can pick someone better.
In the run-up to the March elections to the parliament, the Majlis, there have been signs of a rift between Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader. The President's critics, once silenced, are now allowed full voice. MPs say openly that the real jobless figure is near 20, not 10, per cent. |
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