Backing for Bahrain's leading opposition group has dropped significantly, said a report highlighting that dynamics of local politics has shifted rapidly and unexpectedly.

"We feel deceived. Al Wefaq National Islamic Society promised us democracy, promised us change but all it did was make us unemployed, distrusted and hated by our Sunni friends," said a Bahraini citizen who took part in the survey conducted by the London-based Middle East Centre for Studies and Research, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"Al Wefaq encouraged us to go on strikes and leave our jobs. They told us that this would pressurise the government to hear our voices, but Al Wefaq was not listening either.

"Whoever criticised Al Wefaq was either threatened or called a traitor of the revolution. Our people now believe Al Wefaq is worse than the regime."

The survey was conducted by 12 researchers from Britain and the Middle East in the main Shi'ite villages of Sitra, Eker and Karzakan where revolutionaries and former-hardcore Al Wefaq supporters live.

Results showed that Al Wefaq, which had won the support of more than 65 per cent of the people upon the uprising by promoting itself as the leading front of the Bahraini revolution, is now supported by less than 32 per cent.

After a series of political disappointments, supporters finally broke their silence and announced dealignment from the Islamic political society of Al Wefaq, the report said. – TradeArabia News Service