Ahmedinejad wins disputed Iran vote, crowds clash

Trouble erupted on the streets when Ahmadinejad partisans clashed with about 2,000 supporters of moderate former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi who had been staging a protest against the result of Friday's vote, a Reuters witness said.

The scale of Ahmadinejad's triumph upset widespread expectations that the race would at least go to a second round, and his victory is unlikely to help unblock a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear programme.

Khamenei, Iran's top authority, told defeated candidates and their supporters to avoid "provocative behaviour" as police with batons moved in to disperse stone-throwing Mousavi supporters, from Vanak Square in the capital. Some protesters were arrested and two men were carried away from the scene.

"The chosen and respected president is the president of all the Iranian nation and everyone, including yesterday's competitors, must unanimously support and help him," Khamenei said in a statement read on state television.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, an ally of the hardline Ahmadinejad, declared that the president had been re-elected to a second four-year term with 62.6 percent of the vote, against 33.7 percent for Mousavi, in a record 85 percent turnout.

Mousavi, a veteran of the 1979 Islamic revolution, protested against what he said were many obvious election violations.

"I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny," Mousavi said in a statement made available to Reuters.

He had been due to hold a news conference, but police at the building turned journalists away, saying it was cancelled.

Iranian and Western analysts abroad greeted the results with disbelief. They said Ahmadinejad's re-election would disappoint Western powers aiming to convince Iran to halt work that they suspect is aimed at making bombs, and could further complicate efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to reach out to Tehran.

"It doesn't augur well for an early and peaceful settlement of the nuclear dispute," said Mark Fitzpatrick at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies.

A bitter election campaign generated strong interest around the world and intense excitement inside Iran. It revealed deep divisions among establishment figures between those backing Ahmadinejad and those pushing for social and political change.

Ahmadinejad accused his rivals of undermining the Islamic Republic by advocating detente with the West. Mousavi said the president's "extremist" foreign policy had humiliated Iranians.

On Friday night, before official results emerged, Mousavi had claimed to be the "definite winner". He said many people had been unable to vote and ballot papers were lacking.

He also accused authorities of blocking text messaging, with which his campaign tried to reach young, urban voters.

On Saturday, Iran's students' news agency ISNA quoted Tehran's Deputy Prosecutor General Mahmoud Salarkia as saying 10 people had been detained for "agitating public opinion through websites and blogs by propagating untruthful reports".

Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council, expressed astonishment at the wide margin in Ahmadinejad's favour. "It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred without any cheating," he said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email