Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Iran Election

[Defender968]

Well I wish I could say I'm surprised , and even more surprising is the challenger is shouting fraud, but never fear he’ll be killed shortly. I mean really come on, no politician would ever steal an election, especially not in a stand up country like Iran, led by a prince like Mahmoud And so it goes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...300627_pf.html

Ahmadinejad Declared Winner of Iran Election
Clashes Break Out Among Voters as Challenger Mousavi Disputes Results

By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 13, 2009 12:34 PM



TEHRAN, June 13 -- Riot police clashed with supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in the center of the city Saturday evening after the government declared that he had been defeated in a landslide by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Police used tear gas and batons to battle angry crowds, buses were set on fire and explosions and gunshots were heard in the distance.

In some areas, protesters pushed back the riot police. Women wrapped their headscarves around their faces to protect themselves from the tear gas. One man reportedly died after he was beaten by police.

On one street, riot police in full gear zoomed around on red motorcycles while others stood between three burned-out city buses. Hundreds of protesters hurled stones at them. Thick black smoke filled the air.

"We want freedom," the protesters shouted. Many of them had covered their faces with green cloth, the color of Mousavi.

Hundreds of people ran through the alleys surrounding the normally bustling street as police slowly advanced, hurling back stones that demonstrators had thrown at them. "Fight them!" a man shouted. "Death to the dictatorship!" others yelled at they ran toward the police.

In another location, demonstrators threw several policemen to the ground, and bystanders then beat and kicked them.

Mousavi, a former prime minister who waged a heated campaign against Ahmadinejad's bid for reelection, urged his supporters to reject a "governance of lie and dictatorship." He attributed the results to widespread vote fraud and vowed to resist a "dangerous manipulation" of the balloting.

The demonstrators on the streets carried placards and shouted protests that the election had been stolen. The word in the crowd was that Mousavi would lead a march toward the Interior Ministry, where the votes were counted and which announced that Ahmadinejad had won with 62.6 percent of the vote to less than 34 percent for Mousavi.

"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," Mousavi said in a statement posted on his Web site Saturday. He said the announced results were "shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system" and represented "treason to the votes of the people." He warned that the public would not "respect those who take power through fraud."

A senior official in Mousavi's campaign said reports that Mousavi was under house arrest were false.

Ahmadinejad will give a speech on television later tonight, and his supporters are expected to celebrate in the streets. A big celebration is planned for Sunday afternoon, and his supporters will have a victory rally at Azadi square.

Iranian media remained silent on the riots, which broke out soon after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Ahmadinejad. The police issued a statement saying that all gatherings were illegal.

The election stirred deep political passions among Iran's 46 million eligible voters, pitting Ahmadinejad, a populist who promised to help the poor and to make Iran a world power, against three challengers. Under Iran's system, if no candidate wins a clear majority, a runoff is to be held between the two top vote-getters.

Mousavi portrayed himself as the candidate for change, pledging to take a less confrontational tone in relations with the West and to provide more technocratic management of the economy. His campaign produced an outpouring of enthusiasm from youth, intellectuals and an older generation of Iranian leaders, while Ahmadinejad drew his core support from rural and working-class voters, plus elements of the military and conservative Islamic clergy.

Ahmadinejad, who has been president since 2005, did not make a statement immediately after the polls closed, but his supporters pointed to the Interior Ministry's official tally to claim victory. Mousavi's supporters charged that officials were trying to steal the election and cut off alternative sources of information. For several hours during the balloting Friday, they said, international telephone lines to Tehran were down and text messaging -- which Mousavi's supporters had used to organize street rallies -- was blocked. Members of the baseej, a paramilitary force of volunteers organized by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, reportedly seized a building in North Tehran that housed several Web sites supporting Mousavi, which were shut down.

A senior aide to another opposition candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, charged that the Interior Ministry was distorting the early vote count by providing results from the countryside and not cities. "We believe these results are void and not acceptable," said the aide, Morteza Alviri.

Mousavi, meanwhile, issued a written statement thanking the "dear people of Iran" for his victory.

"I would like to inform you that in spite of wide-ranging fraud and problem-making, according to the documents and reports we have received, the majority of your votes have been cast in favor of your servant," the statement said. It concluded with a veiled suggestion of a possible confrontation, calling his supporters into the streets to celebrate his victory Saturday night and warning that if the votes are not fairly counted, "I will use all legal facilities and methods to restore the rights of the Iranian people."

The Interior Ministry, which is overseeing the election and counting the votes, is headed by Sadegh Mahsouli, a staunch supporter of Ahmadinejad. But its results must be confirmed by the Guardian Council, a panel of senior Islamic clergymen led by Khamenei, the supreme leader. Khamenei and Mousavi, who was prime minister from 1981 to 1989, are members of an older generation of Iranian revolutionaries who overthrew the shah 30 years ago.