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TEHRAN, June 20, 2009 –
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the Iranian
nation needs calm and patience on Friday and ruled out any vote rigging
in the recent presidential election.
Khamenei made the remarks at the Friday prayers congregation on Tehran
University campus, as the country has been hit by massive rallies
against the "frauds" in the recent presidential election.
In his speech broadcast live on state television, Khamenei said that the
country's election mechanism does not allow any cheating and it is wrong
to resort to street protests to exert pressure.
"Iran's (election) laws do not allow any cheating," Khamenei said. "How
could it be possible to have such a vote-rigging with a margin of 11
million votes?"
"It's wrong to use street protests as a pressure tool," the Iranian
supreme leader said, warning that "they will be responsible for any
consequences of violence and chaos."
He urged the candidates to raise any complaints about the election
through legal channels.
Khamenei also said that all four candidates in the recent presidential
election belonged to Iran's Islamic establishment and the dispute was an
internal issue, not an opposition to the regime.
He accused some Western countries and media of trying to create
political rift and social chaos in Iran by discrediting the "victorious"
election.
In the June 12 election, the two reformist candidates – former Prime
Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi
and former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei were vying with the
incumbent hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the next
presidency.
On June 13, Iran's Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said Ahmadinejad won
62.63 percent of the total ballots on June 12, while his main rival
Mousavi got 33.75 percent.
After the official declaration, Mousavi protested "strongly" the
"obvious" violations in Iran's presidential election. He also appealed
to the Guardian Council for a cancellation of the election result.
Mousavi's supporters have participated in massive rallies in Tehran and
other cities over the past days.
In the Friday speech, Khamenei also said that there were some
"deficiencies" in the television debates as part of the election
campaigns, during which Ahmadinejad accused some family members of
influential former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani of " financial
corruption."
Khamenei dismissed the allegations and praised Rafsanjani as a long-time
supporter of the Islamic Revolution, but the supreme leader still said
that Ahmadinejad's opinions on some foreign, economic and social issues
were close to his.
Iran's Guardian Council said Thursday that 646 complaints have been
submitted to the council concerning the irregularities on Iran 's recent
presidential election.
According to a report by local satellite Press TV, the council's
spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaie said that the three defeated candidates
have submitted a total of 646 complaints which are carefully studied.
Kadkhodaie has also said that candidates of Iran's recent presidential
election have been invited to its upcoming meeting session which is to
be held within the next few days, the official IRNA news agency said in
another report on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua
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