Iran rivals dispute poll victory

AL JAZEERA.COM
Both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main election rival have claimed victory in the country's election.

The conflicting claims came just hours after polls officially closed on Friday.

Mousavi called a news conference in Tehran to claim victory soon after voting came to an end.

"In line with the information we have received, I am the winner of this election by a substantial margin," he said.

Only minutes earlier, close Mousavi aide Ali Akbar Mohatshemi-Pour was reported by the AFP news agency as saying his candidate had won 65 per cent of the vote.

But IRNA, Iran's official news agency, soon afterwards announced that Ahmadinejad had won re-eleection.

"Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," the news agency said.

Ahmadinejad received 3,462,548 votes, according to Kamran Daneshjoo, chairman of the electoral commission at the interior ministry.

That compared to 1,425,678 for Mousavi, Daneshjoo said.

The figures from the interior ministry give gave Ahmadinejad 69.04 per cent of the vote and Mousavi 28.42 per cent.

According to the interior minstry figures, the elections two other candidates Mohsen Rezai, a former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Mehdi Karroubi, an ex-parliament speaker - came distant third and fourth with 81,509 votes and 45,453 votes respectively.