Iranians worry about high food prices before vote

By Fredrik Dahl

ISLAMSHAHR, Iran (Reuters) - Soaring food prices are the most explosive issue for people in this working-class city ahead of this month's parliamentary vote, overshadowing concerns over Iran's nuclear dispute with the West.

"Inflation is the main concern," said butcher Hashem Hosseini in his virtually empty family shop in Islamshahr, or Islam City, southwest of the capital Tehran. He says the cost of lamb has risen by one fifth in the last month alone.

"Those with limited means are in a much more critical situation," Hosseini said.

Such words may worry President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who won power almost three years ago pledging to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly and who faces a popularity test in the March 14 parliamentary election.

"What the hell is the nuclear issue?" scoffed a disgruntled man in another store. "There are people here who go hungry to bed at night. The rich get richer and the poor poorer."

Like others critical of the government, the 28-year-old did not want to be named for fear of angering the authorities.

Analysts say economic woes are likely to overshadow the nuclear standoff for many voters, even though the election takes place less than two weeks after the U.N. Security Council imposed a third round of relatively mild sanctions on Iran.

More moderate politicians critical of Ahmadinejad's handling of the $280 billion economy are seeking to seize control of the legislature from his conservative allies in a bid to gain momentum before next year's presidential vote.

While steadily climbing double-digit inflation could make the hardline president's camp vulnerable at the ballot box, increased social and development spending aimed at helping the poor since his government took office may limit the impact.

Fazrullah Nemati, 63, also complained of high inflation but said it was a global issue and the government was not to blame.

"Ahmadinejad is not responsible," the retired engineer said, expressing gratitude to the president for raising his monthly pension to 2 million rials (about $216) while still complaining he could hardly make ends meet.

"NO MONEY"

The government says the world's fourth-largest crude producer earned about $70 billion in oil revenue in the past year. The economy is growing at an annual rate of more than six percent and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created.

But there was little evidence of that prosperity filtering down to ordinary people in Islamshahr, a nondescript satellite city some 50 km (30 miles) from Tehran and the scene of violent protests against high prices in the mid-1990s.

Battered old cars and buses clogged its polluted streets. In the shops and markets, people said they were struggling to cope, squeezed by soaring rents and grocery bills, and stagnant salaries.