Iran rejects claims of voter fraud

Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli says there has been no 'written complaint' about voter fraud. Iranian Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli has declared that the 10th presidential elections were conducted in a manner that ruled out the possibility of voter fraud. In a press conference at the Interior Ministry on Saturday, Mahsouli put the number of the total votes cast in the elections at 39,165,191, suggesting the heavy turnout to be a victory for the nation and not for a specific candidate. The figures bring to around 85 percent the total participation in the elections. The total number of people eligible to vote had been estimated to be over 46 million. While officially pronouncing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the presidential elections with a whopping 24,527,516 votes, Mahsouli dismissed claims that the elections were rigged. "No violations that may have influenced the vote have been reported, and we have received no written complaint," he said in response to a question posed by an Italian reporter. He explained that there may have been some tensions between the representatives of the presidential hopefuls but added that there is no evidence to suggest that the issues of contention have led to violations. His remarks came after Moussavi described the official count as a 'sleight of hand' by those in charge of the crucial election. According to the Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad received around 62 percent of the votes while Mir-Hossein Moussavi managed to win nearly 33 percent with 13,216,411 votes. The two other candidates -- Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi -- won 1.7 and 0.85 percent respectively. AA/MD