Iran's powerful Guardian Council ruled out the possibility of nullifying the country's June 12 presidential election, suggesting there has been no record of any major irregularity.
Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the council's spokesman said late Monday that most of the complaints reported irregularities before the election, and not during or after the vote. According to him, the Guardian Council was not the relevant body to look into such complaints.
"If a major breach occurs in an election, the Guardian Council may annul the votes that come out of a particular affected ballot box, polling station, district, or city like how it was done in the parliamentary elections," Kadkhodaei was quoted as saying by Press TV. "Fortunately, in the recent presidential election we found no witness of major fraud or breach in the election. Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place," he added.
Kadkhodaei also denied accusations that polling stations had closed before all voters could cast their ballots. He said in some polling stations balloting had continued up to three-and-a-half-hours past the official 10 p.m. deadline. "We had polling stations in Golestan Province that were open to voters until 2 a.m. Although 10 p.m. was announced as the closing time, polling stations were told to allow people to vote as long as there were queues," he said.
The spokesman also announced that the Guardian Council has received reports from relevant provincial boards that have been assigned to look into complaints regarding illegal campaigning on Election Day, expelling candidate representatives from polling stations and paying for votes.
© 2009 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
