Iran's presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi takes the lead in 10 major Iranian cities, the local Press TV reported Wednesday, citing a recent poll.

The poll conducted in Iran's 10 big cities showed that Mousavi is surpassing the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 4 percent, the report said.

Some 38 percent of the people expressed their support for Mousavi while 34 percent others supported Ahmadinejad.

Similarly, in an opinion poll conducted by Iran's state TV IRIB last week, Mousavi also enjoyed the lead in the capital city of Tehran with 47 percent of the votes, while 43 percent of the votes went to Ahmadinejad.

Mousavi, who is considered the major rival of Ahmadinejad in the presidential elections on June 12, has repeatedly criticized the incumbent government's economic policy which he called an alms-based one.


A supporter of Mirhossein Mousavi, presidential candidate and former Iranian Prime Minister, helps tie a green ribbon onto a woman at Mousavi's campaign office in Tehran May 26, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
He accused the administration under Ahmadinejad of releasing faulty figures to the public to avoid criticism of its performance.

On Saturday, Mousavi also accused the incumbent president of "disgracing" the Iranian nation on the international scene.

Mousavi, who claimed to represent the reformist camp, is a politician, painter and architect, and was prime minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989 under the then President Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He was the last prime minister of Iran before a change in the constitution which removed the post.

Two other candidates -- former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei -- were also qualified to compete for the next presidency.

Source: Xinhua