Iran: Council says election free of fraud

TEHRAN: Iran's electoral watchdog declared this month's election free of fraud as opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi refused to back down in his confrontation with the country's rulers.

The spokesman for the Guardians Council, Abbasali Kadkhodai, said there was no fraud in the June 12 presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a new four-year term.

"After 10 days of examination, we did not see any major irregularities," Kadkhodai told the official IRNA news agency.

"We have had no fraud in any presidential election and this one was the cleanest election we have had. I can say with certainty that there was no fraud in this election."

The disputed election sparked almost daily protests of hundreds of thousands of people. Beaten reformist candidate Mousavi called for protests to continue.

"It is a must for us to neutralise this evil conspiracy through our behaviour and expressions."

Mousavi's defiant statement came the day after violent clashes in the centre of Tehran, with demonstrators defying Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's demand to cease the protests. Police used tear gas and there were reports of running street fights on Thursday. The Government said that as well as 17 protesters, eight members of the Islamist Basij militia, which has gained a reputation for brutality against demonstrators, have been killed.

The claims could not be verified because of the reporting restrictions in the country.

According to the authorities, Ahmadinejad won 62.6 per cent of the votes compared to 33.75 per cent for Mousavi. However only 105 out of 290 members of the Iranian Parliament attended a victory party for the President.

Neither Ali Larijani, the highly influential Speaker, nor his deputy, Mohammed Reza, attended the event, leading to speculation of splits within the ruling establishment.

Mousavi appeared to have embarked on the high-risk strategy of directly challenging Khamenei, saying "The Supreme Leader's support for the Government in normal conditions would be useful, but the impression of his identification with the President is not for the benefit of the country."

Writing on his website, Mousavi said: "I am willing to show how election criminals have stood by those behind the recent riots and shed people's blood. I will not back down even for a second, even for personal threats or interests."

Meanwhile, relations between the United States and Iran over the protests deteriorated sharply yesterday when Ahmadinejad accused President Barack Obama of behaving like his predecessor, George W. Bush, and declared there was no point in talking to Washington unless the US President apologised.

After Obama said he was "appalled and outraged" by the suppression of dissent and dismissed Tehran's claims that outsiders orchestrated the disturbances, Ahmadinejad said: "Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously Bush used to say.

"Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about? I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it."

- INDEPENDENT