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"In the recent presidential election we witnessed no major fraud or breach," said Kadkhodai. |
TEHRAN – Despite protests at home and criticism abroad, Iran's powerful Guardian Council ruled out the possibility of canceling the results of the disputed presidential elections.
"In the recent presidential election we witnessed no major fraud or breach," Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai told English-language Press TV late on Monday, June 22.
"Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place."
Incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been declared the winner of the presidential vote.
Final results showed him winning almost 63 percent of the vote against 34 percent for his main reformist rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, have repeatedly called for scraping the results, listing a total of 646 irregularities.
But the 12-member Guardians Council, Iran's top legislative body, said most of the reported irregularities were before the election, not during or after.
"If a major breach occurs in an election, the Guardian Council may annul the votes that come out of a particular affected ballot box, polling station, district, or city like how it was done in the parliamentary elections," Kadkhodaei said.
Mousavi is refusing to acknowledge the re-election of Ahmadinejad for a second four-year term.
His supporters have been taking to the streets of Tehran and other cities for the past days to protest the results, in a crisis many describe as the worst since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Diplomatic Protests
International criticism for the election standoff continued on Tuesday with France and Finland summoning the Iranian ambassadors to register their protest.
A senior French Foreign Ministry official expressed "great concern" with developments in Iran and demanded that "full light be shed on the honesty of the presidential vote."
"He reasserted our condemnation of the brutal repression of protests that have left many dead," said spokesman Frederic Desagneaux.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb also summoned Iranian Ambassador Reza Nazarahari Tuesday.
"Finland strongly condemns the use of violence by authorities," he told the envoy.
The message was delivered a day after the Czech government, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, summoned Iran's representative in Prague and called on other EU countries to do the same.
Sweden, which will take over the presidency of the 27-nation bloc on July 1, also summoned the Iranian ambassador to receive a "strong message" about the post-election violence.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force against the Iranian protestors.
"The secretary general reiterates his hope that the democratic will of the people of Iran will be fully respected," the UN said in a statement.
"He calls on the authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, especially the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of information."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama has been deeply touched by scenes of mass protests in Iran.
"I think that's clear, that justice has not been achieved."
Teheran has accused Western governments, particularly Britain and the United States, of meddling in its domestic affairs.
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