Iran's former president Akbar Hahemi Rafsanjani Friday mocked the continuing deadlock in the recent US presidential election, calling the muddle "God's vengeance."
"What happened in the United States is God's vengeance upon an arrogant government which, for many years, in the name of democracy, has sent supervisors around the world to control elections," said Rafsanjani in an address during a Friday prayer service.
The nearly three-week wait for a final vote count in Florida has left the United States unsure of who will be its next president -- Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore.
"The United States has always ridiculed elections in other parts of the world, but their own presidential election has been transformed into a catastrophe," said Rafsanjani.
"Even the votes deposited in ballot boxes were handled with diabolical methods," said the former president.
In last February's legislative elections in Iran, final results in Tehran were delayed for three months because of recounts necessitated by claims of fraud.
Rafsanjani was one of only two conservatives finally awarded victory in Tehran, but he renounced his seat before taking it up so that he would not be accused of having one by fraudulent means -- TEHRAN (AFP)
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