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Iran election body raises vote discrepancies

Monday, June 22, 2009 TEHRAN: Iran's electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, has acknowledged some discrepancies in the disputed presidential election 10 days ago that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, state television reported. Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said the three defeated candidates had complained that the number of ballots cast in some districts exceeded the number of eligible voters. "Our investigation shows that the number of districts they announced is not correct. Based on our preliminary report, 50 districts face this issue," Kadkhodai was quoted as saying by the television. The local news agency reported that Ahmadinejad's three challengers complained that between 80 to 170 districts of the total 366 had seen a greater number of votes cast than there were registered voters. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai have jointly cited 646 irregularities in the June 12 election which has triggered a wave of angry protests in Tehran and other cities across Iran. Officials said turnout was around 85 percent of the 46.2 million electorate.

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