Ahmadinejad Poll Victory Confirmed by Iran
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 12:24 pm
TEHRAN : Iran’s top legislative body confirmed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in a disputed election after a partial recount on Monday, official media reported.
Ahead of the widely expected confirmation, riot police were deployed in main thoroughfares and squares of the capital Tehran where protests had erupted after Ahmadinejad was first declared the clear victor in the June 12 vote, witnesses said.
“The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the Interior Minister announced the final decision of the Council … and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of … the presidential election,” state broadcaster said.
State media say 20 people died in post-election violence, the worst unrest since the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah and established the Islamic Republic.
The Council agreed to recount a random 10 percent of the votes after the protests, which exposed rifts in the clerical leadership and were broken up by pro-government Basij militia and riot police.
Opposition supporters say the vote was rigged to favour the hardline president over reformist rivals including Mirhossein Mousavi, who came second. The government and Mousavi each blamed the other for the violence that followed.
Mousavi had rejected the idea of a recount, saying the vote should be completely annulled. Pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, fourth in the official count, also said annulment was “the only way to regain the people’s trust”.
The street protests have strained relations with the West and in particular Britain, which has rejected accusations that its embassy encouraged the opposition. Iran had detained nine local embassy staff but freed five of them on Monday.
Speaking before the Guardian Council announcement, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the Group of Eight wealthy powers were likely to agree to adopt fresh sanctions on Iran when they meet in Italy next week, though he gave no details.
In a sign earlier in the day that the recount would not question Ahmadinejad’s victory, news agency said recounting in one Tehran district gave him more votes than in the initial count.
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