Iran Voices: Ahvaz

The southern region of Khuzestan is Iran’s main oil-producing region. This poll, the first of its kind, was conducted by Iran Voices, looking specifically at the capital city of Ahvaz.

Iran Voices aims to document how effectively government agencies operate in cities, towns and villages across Iran, and how this impacts on citizens’ lives. The project also aims to provide government officials and members of parliament with information about the needs and expectations of people, putting them directly in touch with public opinion.

The collaboration between IranWire and Iran Voices will deliver monthly polls from a different Iranian province.

You can share your comments and views about these surveys by becoming a member of IranWire, by visiting our Facebook page, or by sending an email to [email protected].

The Survey: Ahvaz Citizens

Fifty-two people participated in the Ahvaz poll. Although the relatively low number of people sampled means the survey cannot fully reflect the public opinion of all people in Ahvaz, it’s important to deliver the information we were able to gather to the relevant authorities. All voices must be heard so that government officials are accountable to all citizens; this survey is a good start.

Of those who took part in the survey, 33 were men and 19 were women.

Fifteen of the participants were between 25 and 30; 16 were between 31 and 40; 13 were between 18 to 24; and five were 50 years old and above.

Of those polled, 11 were government employees; 11 were college students; three were housekeepers; and 13 were self-employed. Eight people ticked “other” when asked about their employment status.

Thirty-nine of the 52 have lived in Ahvaz for more than 10 years, while three have resided there between three to five years. Ten others did not specify the length of their residency.

Most of the respondents were unmarried and childless. Twenty-four were bachelors without a child, nine were unmarried with children, three were married without children, and eight were married with children.

What are the priorities for your city?

The respondents were asked to choose one or more issues to reflect their main concerns about life in Ahvaz. The following issues were selected as priorities: the environment (mentioned by 32 people); employment (27 mentions); security (21); air pollution (21); entertainment and sports facilities (20).

Other priorities ranked as follows:

Drinking water (mentioned by 16 people); high-speed internet (14); road conditions (12); public transportation (12); services for the disabled (10); garbage collection (8); local media publications (6); senior citizen services (6); educational services (6); and traffic (3)

How do you rate government and public services?

Participants were asked to rate banks, hospitals, the police, the judiciary, government agencies and city government. In total, “not satisfactory” was given as an answer 121 times.

The judiciary (mentioned 32 times) and the police (31) were on the top of the “not satisfactory” list. Government agencies (23), hospitals (18), banks (11) and municipal government (6) followed.

When asked to rate services, the answer “satisfactory” was chosen only 15 times. Banks came top of the list, with eight people rating them as satisfactory. Government agencies received a satisfactory ranking only twice and only one person rated the judiciary, hospitals and city municipality as satisfactory.

Twenty-six people polled said that banks were “somewhat satisfactory”; other services ranked to be “somewhat satisfactory" included hospitals (15 people); government agencies (9); police (5); municipal government (14); and the judiciary (10).

In the last year, how have these problems improved or become worse?

Top of the list of the problems that have become worse included unemployment (25); drug abuse (19); water quality (18); preserving cultural heritage (17); traffic (14); internet speed (14); and citizens’ regard for law and order (12).

Citizens believed that the following issues improved over the last year: the environment and green spaces (14 people); road conditions (10); sports facilities (10).

Of those polled, not one person said quality of water, unemployment or the judiciary had improved in Ahvaz.

Do government and local officials and parliamentary representatives ask about the issues that matter to people?

 What are the best ways for representatives to find out about the issues that people face? When citizens are asked “Where do you get the majority of your information?”, they responded that, for the most part, information came from personal observation (mentioned by 18 people), friends and acquaintances (15) and the internet (15).

No one replied that radio was “always” a good way to obtain information. The internet, however, received positive responses, with not one person responding “never” when asked whether they found the internet to be a good way of obtaining information. The same was true for information gleaned from acquaintances and personal observation.

In the past year, have you talked to city representatives about your problems or ideas?

Only five people out of the 52 participants said they had talked to city representatives. Only three people responded that they had approached members of parliament to report on important issues. Only one person who had talked to a city representative said that his concerns had been “partially addressed”. The other participants said that they received no reply when they expressed their dissatisfaction with how a particular issue was being addressed.

Ninety per cent of the participants surveyed said that they would find it helpful to talk to city and government representatives. Forty-eight percent believed that neighboring cities share similar problems with Ahvaz.