Iran council to start vote recount in front of media

September 15th, 2009 KABUL - Election authorities said Tuesday they would recount ballots from around 10 percent of the polling stations in last month's presidential vote due to indications of fraud. The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ordered the recount after receiving more than 2,000 complaints of fraud, with hundreds of them said to be serious enough to affect the outcome.

September 15th, 2009 Recount ordered at 10 percent of Afghan vote sitesKABUL — A top election official says vote tallies from about 10 percent of Afghanistan's polling stations need to be recounted because of possible irregularities in the country's Aug. 20 presidential election.

September 13th, 2009 TEHRAN - Turkey has declared readiness to host nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers, a media report said Sunday. The Press TV network quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying that his country was ready to host talks between Iran and the five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany.

July 2nd, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia is opposed to sanctions against Iran over the recent crackdown on protest rallies following the disputed presidential election, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Russia, which has consistently supported Iran in international disputes, was one of the first countries to congratulate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election.

June 29th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran started a partial recount of the June 12 presidential election votes Monday, Iran's state-owned satellite TV al-Alam News reported. Iran's 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.

June 28th, 2009 Iran's opposition leader rejects partial recountEDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

June 28th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi Saturday refused to support a panel set up by the electoral watchdog Guardian Council to conduct a partial recount of votes in the disputed presidential election, a media report said. Refusing to be cowed by attacks on his party offices, Moussavi again demanded for fresh polls.

June 27th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's Guardian Council has offered opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi a deal to settle the dispute over alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election. Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said a special committee would be formed to review the disputed election results that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a controversial victory.

June 22nd, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's powerful Guardian Council has said there were some irregularities in the June 12 presidential election, which has been widely disputed and triggered bloody street protests. The Guardian Council admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities was more than the number of eligible voters, the council's spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) channel Sunday.

June 22nd, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran Monday did not rule out the expulsion of foreign diplomats following days of mass protests against alleged vote rigging in the June 12 presidential polls. "The issue of expulsion (of some European diplomats) is currently evaluated in parliament and the foreign minister will consult today (Monday) with parliament's foreign policy commission about the exact dimensions of interference," the foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.

June 20th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's Guardian Council will recount 10 percent of the ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential election, the state television reported Saturday. "The Guardian Council is ready to recount randomly up to 10 percent of the ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential election," council's spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said.

June 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Iran experts are unsure what compromise can be acceptable to both sides, and any climb down by the Supreme Leader seems hard to digest in Iran's theocratic system. Mir Hossein Mousavi and other key moderates are riding a wave of popular anger over how the presidential election was handled.

June 16th, 2009 Limited recount possible in Iran's disputed voteTEHRAN, Iran — Iran's Islamic leadership is prepared to conduct a limited recount of disputed presidential elections, a spokesman said Tuesday, as thousands of people took to the streets to show support for the regime and authorities cracked down on independent media. The announcement comes after Iran's state radio reported earlier Tuesday that seven people were killed during clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day — the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles following the disputed election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner.

June 16th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's Council of Guardians has said it is ready to recount votes from last week's disputed election in the wake of clashes and mass protests which have led to the deaths of at least seven people. n a statement released through state media the council, a powerful committee of 12 clerics, said the move may lead to changes in candidates' tally.

May 16th, 2009 CHENNAI - Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram won the Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu Saturday after two recounts, poll officials said here.