Rice slams Iran vote
2005-06-19 15:44
Washington - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Sunday slammed the last week's presidential elections in Iran as failing to be a legitimate exercise in democracy.
Rice criticised the election, saying it "took place with an unelected few having decided who could run, with thousands of people having been disqualified, with women having been disqualified altogether."
"I find it hard to see how this election could certainly contribute to the sense of legitimacy of the Iranian government," she told ABC television Sunday.
Tehran's ultra-conservative mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad and moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were the top two finishers in the first round of voting and will face off in a run-off on Friday.
- AFP