MANAMA: A major new survey reveals that support for Bahrain’s opposition is dramatically waning as the Premier steers the nation into peace.

The Middle East Centre for Studies and Research has discovered that backing for Bahrain’s leading opposition group – Al Wefaq National Islamic Society – has dropped significantly.

Two years after the uprising in Bahrain, dynamics of local politics has shifted rapidly and unexpectedly, says the report by the London-based think tank.

“We feel deceived. Al Wefaq 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.

“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 32pc.

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.