Ahmadinejad Achieves Landslide Victory; Wins 63% of Vote in Most of Iran
13/06/2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won 63 percent of the vote in most electoral districts across Iran, the election chief said on Saturday, meaning the incumbent hardliner is assured of victory.
Kamran Daneshjoo said on state television that Ahmadinejad received almost 21.8 million votes or 63.36 percent out of nearly 34.4 million valid votes cast in 346 out of 366 electoral districts across the country. He said Ahmadinejad's closes rival, the more moderate ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, garnered 11.7 million votes or 34.07 percent.
In a distant third was the former head of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai with almost 588,000 votes or 1.7 percent while reformist ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi received almost 290,000 votes or 0.87 percent.
Earlier, the Iranian Interior Ministry said that Ahmadinejad was set for a landslide victory with nearly 80 percent of votes counted in Iran's stormy presidential elections. "Doctor Ahmadinejad, by getting a majority of the votes, has become the definite winner of the 10th presidential election," state news agency IRNA declared as his jubilant supporters took to the streets in celebration.
The level of the incumbent's support, roughly twice as many votes as Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger, with most ballots counted, confounded analyst predictions of a tight race.
The "unprecedented" voter turnout at the polls Friday was also expected to boost Mousavi's chances of winning the presidency.
Mousavi warned on Saturday he would not bow to the "dangerous scenario" created in Iran after results showed he had lost to incumbent Ahmadinejad.
Mousavi said he "protested vigorously against the numerous and blatant irregularities" in Friday's vote after officials said Ahmadinajad had secured about 63 percent of the vote with counting in most districts over. The former premier said on a statement that it was his "national and religious duty to reveal the secrets of this dangerous process and to explain its destructive consequences for the future of the country."
However, as the official results showed Ahmadinejad would be back for a second term, his supporters poured on to the streets of Tehran, honking their horns and waving Iranian flags.
In his first term in office Ahmadinejad became known to the outside world for his fierce rhetoric against the United States and Israel. But Friday's election was also seen as a referendum on his handling of an oil exporting economy which enjoyed a surge in petrodollar revenues on his watch - a boom which critics say he squandered.
Ahmadinejad, 53, championed Iran's devout poor, especially those in rural areas, who felt neglected by past governments and helped sweep him to power in 2005.
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Ahmadinejad Congratulated on his Landslide Victory 13/06/2009 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday congratulated Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his landslide re-election victory, calling for stronger ties between the allies.
Assad sent Ahmadinejad a cable in which he also expressed his "best wishes for progress and prosperity" to the Iranian people, state-run SANA news agency said.
The Syrian president "expressed his faith that relations and cooperation will be reinforced between Syria and Iran," which are bound by several economic and military agreements, SANA said.
Assad stressed that the two countries "work together to achieve lasting and comprehensive peace in the region and the world."
Ahmadinejad won a crushing victory in Iran's presidential vote and a second four-year term, according to official results, defeating key rival Mir Hossein Mousavi.
For his part, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez telephoned Ahmadinejad to congratulate him on his electoral win, Chavez's office said.
The victory "represents the feeling and commitment of the Iranian people to building a new world," Chavez said in a statement.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said on Saturday that Ahmadinejad has won the presidential election with 62.63 percent of the vote.
In Lebanon, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he hoped Ahmadinejad’s victory would be a reassuring factor to solve outstanding issues with the West “and to serve peace, stability and security in the region.”
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