Results of election will not be canceled, Guardian Council says

June 24, 2009 - 0:0

TEHRAN - The results of the June 12 presidential election will not be canceled, the Guardian Council announced on Tuesday.

“We witnessed no major fraud or violation,” Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaii told Press TV. “Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place.”
The GC is expected to announce its final position on the complaints about the presidential election results later today.
The GC has received different reports and complaints from three presidential candidates, such as claims that there were delays in the distribution of ballot papers, but the GC has now examined all of the complaints, Kadkhodaii said in an appearance on IRIB Channel 2’s Special Dialogue program on Sunday night.
In response to the complaints that the number of votes in some provinces exceeded the number of eligible voters, Kadkhodaii explained that this occurred because there is no law requiring people to vote in their place of residence and people can vote anywhere in the country.
“It was decided that a number inspectors should go to the Statistics Organization (to examine the issue). However, the total of the votes in these constituencies amounts to three million votes, which cannot change the results of the election,” he stated.
---------All sides should observe law in election dispute
A former lawmaker said on Tuesday that all presidential candidates and the Guardian Council must observe the law in their efforts to settle the row over the election results.
“The observation of the law is a reciprocal issue, meaning that the candidates and the Guardian Council are obliged to observe the law,” Emad Afrough, a trained sociologist, told the Mehr News Agency.
He put forward two proposals to resolve the current dispute over the presidential election results.
Afrough said his first proposal calls for the GC to launch an investigation into the complaints and violations of electoral laws with experts, impartial people, and candidates’ representatives.
However, if the proposal is not accepted, then an arbitration board comprised of the country’s prominent figures, candidates and even Guardian Council members should resolve the dispute, he added.
Afrough, a senior member of the Society of Independent Principlists, also said the best way to differentiate the “real and revolutionary” supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi from those who have appeared on the scene with ulterior motives would be for the Interior Ministry to allow legal marches based on the Constitution and citizens’ rights.
The former lawmaker also criticized IRIB for its one-sided coverage of recent events, saying Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting could have invited moderate and sincere people to make efforts to calm down the tense atmosphere.