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Iran to conduct partial recount after leader orders probe into vote fraud

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Iran's Guardian Council of the Constitution said Tuesday that it would conduct a partial recount of disputed presidential election results after the country's spiritual leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation on Monday into allegations of voter fraud. Khamenei's order came after protests took place throughout the country following last weekend's announcement of a victory by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. It is likely that an investigation, which would be conducted by the Guardian Council, is an attempt by the supreme leader to reduce the violence that has erupted within the country. Iranian state radio reported that seven people were killed in a violent protest Monday, and Mousavi has called for Tuesday protests to be canceled to avoid further altercations. Ahmadinejad, who has been president of Iran since 2005, has been a controversial figure. In April, delegates to the UN Durban Review Conference on Racism walked out of a speech by Ahmadinejad after he described Israel as "totally racist." Last June, a division of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance revoked the license of Iranian daily newspaper Tehran Emrouz for printing articles that criticized the policies of Ahmadinejad. Allegations of fraud also surrounded Ahmadinejad's 2005 election victory.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).