Iran’s Moussavi rejects partial vote recount

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.

July 28th, 2009 TEHRAN - The Iranian government Tuesday once again rejected a request by opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi to hold a memorial ceremony for the victims in recent protest demonstrations, Fars news agency reported. An interior ministry official said no permission has been issued for any gathering Thursday (July 30).

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 29th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's legislative body, the Guardian Council, gave up hopes of representatives of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi appearing for an election review process and would start a re-count in front of state television cameras, the news network Khabar reported Monday. Khabar quoted council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei as saying that the representatives of both Moussavi and fellow presidential contender Mehdi Karroubi were supposed to join the review panel by noon Monday but because of their absence, the council had ordered the start of the recount of 10 percent of the ballots without the two defeated candidates' representatives.

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 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 24th, 2009 TEHRAN - Mohsen Rezaei, an opposition candidate in Iran's June 12 presidential elections, has withdrawn his complaint to the Guardian Council regarding irregularities in the election process, Iranian media reported Wednesday. The (current) political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase, which is more important than the election, said Rezaei in a letter to the secretary of the Guardian Council, Press TV reported.

June 20th, 2009 TEHRAN/BERLIN - Eyewitness reports said Saturday that Iranian police have fired gunshots in the air at a demonstration in Tehran to disperse protestors. Witnesses said supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi clashed with supporters of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

June 20th, 2009 TEHRAN/BERLIN - Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the presidential candidate defeated in last week's contested poll, has written a letter to Iran's Guardian Council Saturday, saying that he believes the election was rigged in advance. In the seven-page letter, made public as clashes were going on between police and protestors in Tehran, Moussavi said "I will continue my efforts to clarify the truth on the basis of the constitution and current laws, although the violations and planning of this disgusting move had been planned in advance." The Guardian Council had offered to recount 10 percent of votes randomly to prove the veracity of the poll.

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 18th, 2009 TEHRAN - Protests in favour of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi and against alleged electoral fraud were scheduled to continue Thursday in Tehran for the sixth consecutive day. The pro-Moussavi network coordinating the demonstrations said that protestors would first gather in front of the UN office and then move to a square in downtown Tehran.

June 17th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi indicated Wednesday that his supporters would continue their protests until new presidential elections were held. "We peacefully protest against election fraud and all we want is the annulment of the election and the holding of a new election without cheating," the opposition leader said while calling on his supporters to stay calm and peaceful.

June 14th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi called on Iran's Guardian Council Sunday to nullify the results of the presidential election. Moussavi said in a statement on his website that he had forwarded an official request to the Guardian Council asking it to nullify the results.

March 17th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami has withdrawn from the country's presidential election, Iranian media reports said Monday. According to Mehr news agency, the reformist leader has endorsed former Iranian prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi to run for the presidency elections to which are to be held in June.