CAIRO — How do you count almost 40 million handwritten paper ballots in a matter of hours and declare a winner? That’s a key question in Iran’s disputed election.
International polling experts and Iran analysts said the speed of the vote count, coupled with a lack of detailed election data normally released by officials, was fueling suspicion around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s reformist challenger, claims he was robbed of the presidency and has called for the results to be canceled.
Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, reported on its Web site that more than 10 million votes were missing national identification numbers similar to U.S. Social Security numbers, which make the votes "untraceable.” It didn’t say how it got the information.
Mousavi said some polling stations closed early with voters still in line, and he charged that representatives of his campaign were expelled from polling centers even though each candidate was allowed one observer at each location.
Friday’s election dispute has pushed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the state’s most powerful figure, into the high-profile role of political referee.
The 70-year-old cleric who has battled reformists in the past ordered an investigation Monday. The move was a stunning turnaround for Khamenei, who has called the election result a "divine assessment.”
The investigation by the Guardian Council, composed of clerics closely allied with Khamenei, illustrates the supreme leader’s desire to avoid a drawn-out political battle that could endanger the stability and legitimacy of Iran’s Islamic theocracy.
by the associated press
International polling experts and Iran analysts said the speed of the vote count, coupled with a lack of detailed election data normally released by officials, was fueling suspicion around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s reformist challenger, claims he was robbed of the presidency and has called for the results to be canceled.
Mousavi’s newspaper, Kalemeh Sabz, reported on its Web site that more than 10 million votes were missing national identification numbers similar to U.S. Social Security numbers, which make the votes "untraceable.” It didn’t say how it got the information.
Mousavi said some polling stations closed early with voters still in line, and he charged that representatives of his campaign were expelled from polling centers even though each candidate was allowed one observer at each location.
Friday’s election dispute has pushed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the state’s most powerful figure, into the high-profile role of political referee.
The 70-year-old cleric who has battled reformists in the past ordered an investigation Monday. The move was a stunning turnaround for Khamenei, who has called the election result a "divine assessment.”
The investigation by the Guardian Council, composed of clerics closely allied with Khamenei, illustrates the supreme leader’s desire to avoid a drawn-out political battle that could endanger the stability and legitimacy of Iran’s Islamic theocracy.
by the associated press
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