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Iran vote recount is underway: report

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-29 23:14

TEHRAN: Iran's Guardian Council (GC) spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaie said on Monday afternoon that the recount of 10 percent of Iran's recent presidential votes was underway, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The recount was going on in front of cameras of the national television network which are recording the whole process, Kadkhodaie was quoted as saying.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to worshippers during Friday prayers at Tehran University June 19, 2009. [Agencies]

The partial recount of the June 12 presidential election votes started on Monday. The Guardian Council, the top legislative body, had agreed to recount a random 10 percent of the votes after the disputed election caused large-scale demonstrations in the country.

The recount is expected to be completed by GC experts by the end of the working hours on Monday, IRNA quoted Kadkhodaie as saying.

The GC, at the latest hours of Sunday night, received demands from defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi asking for recount of votes using a particular method, Kadkhodaie said.

He said Mousavi has also demanded recount of votes in some of the provinces, examining the records of ballots to check them against the identity cards of the people who had filled the corresponding ballot papers and examining the handwriting used in filling a number of ballot papers.

He further added that the GC has agreed to do, as Mousavi demanded, on a random basis, and it was also decided that certain members of the GC special board hold talks with representatives of Mousavi on the issue.

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Mousavi and another defeated candidate Mehdi Karroubi have filed complaints over irregularities in the presidential election and demanded an annulment of the election.

On June 13, Iran's Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62.63 percent of the total ballots, while his main rival Mousavi got 33.75 percent.

The other two candidates -- Karroubi and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei -- got less than 2 percent of the total ballots.