NEWSMAKER - Ahmadinejad, the man who never fails to surprise

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Vilified by the West for his hardline policies and spurned by many at home for an election that opponents called "a dangerous charade", Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still seems able to wrongfoot his enemies and supporters alike.

The main ace that Ahmadinejad, 53, has held during his political career is that his opponents have consistently underestimated him, which has given him more space to consolidate his grip on power.

His re-election to a second term as president, which began on Wednesday, did not come without a price. A political struggle, the worst in 30 years, has convulsed Iran since the June 12 vote.

The results, which leading reformists and moderate defeated candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi said were rigged to ensure victory for Ahmadinejad, led to violent protests and a deep rift within Iran's clerical and political elite.

It was not the first time Ahmadinejad, a blacksmith's son and former Revolutionary Guard, had defied predictions.

He was an unknown figure when he was appointed mayor of Tehran in 2003, and was not even prominent when he defeated powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a run-off vote in the 2005 presidential vote.

In his first term in office, Ahmadinejad enraged the international community with his fierce rhetoric against the United States and Israel, his defiant stand on Iran's nuclear programme, and persistent questioning of the Holocaust.