Iran elections 'not fraudulent'
2005-06-20 21:43
Tehran - Iran's Guardians council announced on Monday that it had found no evidence of fraud in last week's presidential election, saying a partial recount had confirmed the result and a run-off would go ahead on Friday.
The head of the council, Ahmad Jannati, said: "After complaints... the council authorised the interior ministry to recount the ballots from a certain number of boxes.
"It was clear there was no fraud. The vote was sound and the second round will be held on Friday."
The council, a hardline-controlled political watchdog, agreed to an extremely partial and random recount of ballots cast in a first round of presidential elections after several candidates complained of vote rigging.
Three of the seven candidates who stood in the first round of the election last Friday had complained of irregularities they said were aimed at propelling Tehran's hardline mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad into a run-off against moderate conservative cleric, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
But, the recount only covered 100 out of 41 071 ballot boxes.