Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been
re-elected as president of Iran with a
resounding victory, the electoral commission says. With more than 80% of results in, the
commission said he won 63% support in an election marked by high turnout. Reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi also claimed
victory, calling the result a "dangerous charade", as supporters
vowed to appeal for a re-run. Police have sealed off Mr Mousavi's campaign
HQ, preventing his supporters from holding a news conference. One opposition newspaper has
been closed down and BBC websites also appear to have been blocked by the
Iranian authorities. Mr Mousavi was hoping to prevent Mr
Ahmadinejad winning more than 50% of the vote, in order to force a run-off
election. However, the Iranian election commission
said Mr Mousavi's share of the vote was around 34%. Earlier, the state news agency Irna declared
Mr Ahmadinejad the "definite winner", and his campaign manager was
quoted as saying "any doubts cast on this victory will be treated as a
joke by the public".
Danger of 'tyranny'
Mr Mousavi issued a statement shortly after
1300 local time (0930 GMT) on Saturday, after the scale of the hardline
president's victory became clear.
The former prime minister dismissed the
election result as deeply flawed.
"I personally strongly
protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to
this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying. "The result of such performance by some
officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will
establish tyranny." Mr Mousavi has already said there was a
shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied
the right to vote. His election monitors were not allowed
enough access to polling stations, he added, saying he would deal seriously with
any irregularities. The head of the Committee to Protect the
People's Votes, a group set up by all three opposition candidates, said the
group does not accept the result, alleging fraud. They have asked Iran's Guardian Council - a
powerful bodycontrolledbyconservative clerics - to cancel the results and
re-run the electionThe BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says the
result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many
Iranians. The figures, if they are to be believed,
show Mr Ahmedinejad winning strongly even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi, the
main opposition contender. The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that
many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential
election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad,
he adds.
Police presence
Although there were few signs of organised
dissent on the streets, police in Tehran moved to prevent protests on Saturday.
There was heavy security around Mr Mousavi's
campaign headquarters and reports that at least one rally for Mr Mousavi was
broken up by police using truncheons against small groups of people.The AFP news agency said
police dispersed opposition supporters on Saturday morning, quoting a senior
police official as saying: "The time of dancing and shouting is
over." One opposition supporter who gave her name
as Shirin, told the BBC she still had confidence Mr Mousavi would become
president.
"But he advised us, the supporters, not
to do anything harsh or trying to... clash with Ahmadinejad's supporters,"
she said. Our correspondent says the reaction of
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be extremely important. BBC Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba says
the result means that hope for peaceful reform in Iran may die for a long time.
Large turnout
There had been a surge of interest in Iran's presidential election,
with unprecedented live television debates between the
candidates and rallies attended by thousands.
There were long queues at polling stations,
with turnout said to be higher than 80%.
Four candidates contested the election, with
Mohsen Razai and Mehdi Karroubi only registering a small percentage of votes.
President Ahmadinejad draws support mainly
from the urban poor and rural areas, while his rivals have support among the
middle classes and the educated urban population. Iran is ruled under a system known
as Velayat-e Faqih, or "Rule by the Supreme Jurist", who is currently
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It was adopted by an overwhelming majority
in 1979 following the Islamic revolution which overthrew the autocratic
Western-backed Shah.
But the constitution also stipulates that
the people are the source of power and the country holds phased presidential
and parliamentary elections every four years.
All candidates are vetted by the powerful
conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which also has the power to veto
legislation it deems inconsistent with revolutionary principles.