| Iran's supreme leader defends election |
| Friday, June 19, 2009 |
by Badi Badiozamani
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a crowd at Tehran University in a sermon during Friday prayers.
His speech was greatly anticipated amid massive protests from supporters of opposition leaders such as Mir Hossein Moussavi, who disputed the government's assertion that Ahmadinejad won in a landslide.
While Khamenei called on those who don't believe the results to use proper legal avenues, such as requesting the recounting of ballots in their presence, he did not issue a call for a new vote.
He also criticized the street protests and said those who caused violence during demonstrations would be held accountable.
Khamenei said Ahmadinejad got more than 24 million votes, defeating Moussavi, his main challenger.
"Eleven million votes difference? Sometimes there's a margin of 100,000, 200,000, or 1 million maximum. Then one can doubt maybe there has been some rigging or manipulation or irregularities," Khamenei said.
"But there's a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?" he asked.
He lauded the election as a "political earthquake."
"The 10th presidential election was actually a great show in which people indicated their responsibility towards the destiny of their country. It was a great manifestation of people's participation in the affairs of their country. It depicted very well people's solidarity with their establishment," he said.
Khamenei praised the 85 percent voter turnout of about 40 million people, but said that some critics "wanted to indicate that as a doubtful victory. Some even wanted to show that this is a national defeat.
more... |
posted by citizen jerk @ 9:29 AM   |
|
| 2 Comments: |
-
Nice blog post. Deserving of appreciation. Thanks.
-
Eligible work. Demands appreciation. Thanks.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
Seed Newsvine
Nice blog post. Deserving of appreciation. Thanks.