Iran Council confirms election
Monday, 29 June 2009 20:09
Iran's top legislative body confirmed the results of a disputed 12 June election which was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
'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,' IRIB said.
The decision followed a partial recount of the election.
Iran's English-language Press TV television station said the recount of a random 10% of the votes, which was carried out today, had shown no irregularities.
Defeated opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi had previously rejected the Council's offer of a partial recount, saying the vote was rigged in Mr Ahmadinejad's favour and that the whole election should be annulled.
Official results of the election, released on 13 June, sparked the most widespread street protests in Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Mr Mousavi and two other defeated presidential candidates had submitted a total of 646 complaints about the election.
But the Guardian Council said most of the complaints were not considered as election irregularities and that it had dismissed them after conducting 'precise and thorough studies' of the election process.
