Partial recount in Iran, reformers want annulment
Güncelleme Tarihi:
TEHRAN - Iran held a partial recount on Monday of its disputed election won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but one defeated reformist candidate said annulment of the poll was "the only way to regain the people's trust".
In a sign that the process would not put into question Ahmadinejad's victory, IRNA news agency said recounting so far in one Tehran district gave him more votes than in the June 12 poll that unleashed the worst unrest since the 1979 revolution.
Witnesses reported an increased police presence in some
Pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, fourth in the official count, reiterated his call for the vote to be annulled in a letter to
"The election's annulment is the only way to regain the people's trust," said Karoubi, in a position shared with defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, who met on Sunday with a committee of the Council in a bid to resolve a political crisis that has exposed rifts in Iran's ruling establishment.
The Council's spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai told state radio that talks over Mousavi's proposal had no clear outcome, but the moderate candidate was not available for comment. Mousavi has said a "national arbitration committee" should examine the vote.
Despite the bloodshed and political drama in the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, one senior Iranian oil official said the turmoil had not affected its domestic energy sector or dealings with foreign firms.
"I have continued with my meetings with representatives of international oil companies and ... to my knowledge this has no impact on energy in
RECOUNT RESULTS
"This recount is being done before (state broadcaster) IRIB cameras in various provinces and cities and we will subsequently announce the outcome for public information. ... We will try to release the outcome by the end of working hours (on Monday)," Kadkhodai said.
The official told Press TV that 34 ballot boxes, representing 10 percent of the total in the district, had been opened under "full and precise supervision".
"The results were positive, no irregularities in the results announced," the official said.
State media have said 20 people were killed in violence since the election won by the hardline president, and authorities have accused Mousavi of responsibility for the bloodshed. He says the government is to blame.
Mass protests by demonstrators who said the poll was rigged were broken up by pro-government Basij militia and riot police. The demonstrations had echoes of the Islamic revolution that toppled the shah.
The hardline leadership, locked in a row with the West over its nuclear program and which says the poll was fair, has also blamed the trouble on foreign powers rather than popular anger. "Americans and the Zionists (
Iranian authorities said on Monday five out of nine detained British embassy local staff had been released, while four others were being held for questioning.
"We are deeply concerned at their arrest and their continued detention. These arrests are completely unacceptable and unjustifiable," a
The
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Sunday had demanded the release of all the staff held and said his European Union colleagues had agreed to a "strong, collective response" to any such "harassment and intimidation" against EU missions.
Ahmadinejad called for a judicial inquiry into what he called the "suspicious" shooting to death of music student Neda Agha-Soltan, who became a symbol of opposition protests after her death was broadcast on the Internet.
Last week,
The president suggested that the opposition and