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Mousavi Supporters help an injured officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009 |
TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iran's top legislative body has again ruled out any annulment of the June 12 presidential election, as demanded by two defeated candidates, state television said on Tuesday.
"Iran's Guardian Council rejects annulment of the June 12 presidential election, saying that there have been no major polling irregularities," the English-language Press TV said.
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A second call for election annulment The report came a day after one of the beaten candidates, pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, repeated his call for the council to annul the election, which official results showed was won by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Instead of wasting time on recounting some ballot boxes ... cancel the vote," Karoubi said in a letter to the council.
Moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger in the election, has also called for the vote to be annulled, citing irregularities. |
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A council unwilling to cooperate Iran is facing the worst unrest since 1979 The council had made clear before that it would not annul the election, saying last week it was only ready to recount a random 10 percent of the votes cast.
The authorities reject opposition charges of vote fraud.
Official results of the election, released on June 13, sparked the most widespread street protests in Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The defeated candidates have submitted a total of 646 complaints about the election.
Earlier this week, a Guardian Council spokesman said one common complaint was that the number of votes surpassed eligible voters in some constituencies. |
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Accusations of fraud denied But the spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodai, said it may have been due to the fact Iranians could vote wherever they wanted and that in any case it would not have had any major impact on the election result.
Kadkhodai was quoted by Iran's state-run English language Press TV saying that the organization had found "no major fraud or breach in the election."
The council is a 12-man body, six senior clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader and six Islamic jurists, which must ensure all laws agree with Islamic Sharia law and Iran's constitution.
It also vets aspiring candidates for presidential elections and must approve the election results. |
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A worlwide call for a halt to violence Meanwhile, world leaders are calling for a halt to violence against opposition protesters who have staged almost daily rallies.At least 17 people have been killed and many more wounded, according to state media.
Footage broadcast on the Internet has shown scenes of brutal violence in Tehran, with one video viewed by hundreds of thousands around the globe purportedly showing a bloodstained young woman named Neda reportedly killed when hit by a bullet in Tehran. Original Source http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/23/76759.html
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