Ahmadinejad rejects 'irregularities' in election

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad holds his first press conference on Sunday since being declared president for a second four-term. "In the Friday election, the Iranian people showed that they are more resolute with stronger belief, committed to great ideals of the Islamic Revolution," Ahmadinejad told reporters on Sunday in his first press conference since winning the vote. He added that the massive turnout of the Iranian nation in the election was a blow to the "oppressive system ruling the world". "The participation of more than 84 percent of eligible voters was a major blow to the oppressive system ruling the world." Ahmadinejad said protests erupted since the final result of the election were a natural outcome for a hotly-contested election. He, however, said, "the election is like a football match played by two teams. The loser should just let it go." "The fact that some protest and question the election results is not important; rather it is natural because they though that they would win but they did not," Ahmadinejad said. "So, it is routine that they will be upset and show reaction or write letters." Ahmadinejad's remarks come after thousands of supporters of presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Moussavi took to the streets on Saturday after Ahmadinejad was declared victor by a landslide. Chanting "Moussavi! Take back our vote!", supporters of the former prime minister expressed their disbelief at the results of the Friday election. The protests reportedly got violent after they scuffled with the Iranian police. Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in the 10th presidential election on Friday with 24,527,516 votes (62.63 percent) against his main rival Mousavi who received 13,216,411 votes (33.75 percent). SF/MD