国际英语新闻：Ahmadinejad leads Iran's presidential election poll by big margin

TEHRAN, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A recent poll shows that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leading Iran's presidential election poll by big margin, Iran's satellite Press TV reported on Tuesday.

    A recent nationwide poll showed that the Iranian president's popularity has grown among the electorate, while support for his rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi has remained unchanged, the report said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad holds up his identification as he waits to register as candidate for President of Iran in the Interior Ministry building in Tehran May 8, 2009.

"The opinion poll conducted in Tehran as well as 29 other provincial capitals and 32 important cities on May 3-4, indicates that 58.6 percent will cast their ballots in favor of Ahmadinejad, while some 21.9 percent will vote for Mousavi."

    According to the Press TV report, in another more recent poll carried out in Tehran, 44.8 percent of respondents said that given a choice of Ahmadinejad or Mousavi, they would opt for the Principalist incumbent president while some 29 percent said they would pick Mousavi.

Former Iranian Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi waves to journalists as he arrives to register as candidate for presidential elections in the Interior Ministry building in Tehran May 9, 2009.

The report, however, did not mention which institute or organization conducted the survey.

    A total of 475 applicants have already signed up for Iran's presidential election slated for June 12.

Iran's former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi holds up his identification as he waits to register as a candidate for presidential elections at the Interior Ministry building in Tehran May 9, 2009

The four main candidates are incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei.

    Iran's Guardians Council will finalize the name list of those who can run for the presidency after screening the registered candidates. The final list is expected to come out on May 21. 

Iran's former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei waves to journalists as he arrives to register as a candidate for President of Iran at Interior Ministry building in Tehran May 8, 2009