Iran Council confirms Ahmadinejad election victory
Iran's top legislative body confirmed on Monday the results of a disputed June 12 election which was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Iran's top legislative body confirmed on Monday the results of a disputed June 12 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 percent of the votes, which was carried out on Monday, had shown no irregularities.
Defeated opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi had previously rejected the Council's offer of a partial recount, saying the vote was rigged in Ahmadinejad's favour and that the whole election should be annulled.
Official results of the election, released on June 13, sparked the most widespread street protests in Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
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 thourough studies" of the election process.
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.