Elections, Vote Fraud | featured news

Iran began recounting some of the votes cast in its disputed presidential election Monday in an apparent attempt to placate opposition protesters.

A conservative candidate in Iran's disputed presidential election said Wednesday that he was withdrawing his complaints about voting fraud for the sake of the country, state television reported.

Iran's Guardian Council ruled out the possibility of nullifying the results of the country's disputed presidential election, saying irregularities were reported before the balloting -- not during or after.

Protests in Tehran were much smaller than recent demonstrations, amid a crackdown by Iranian security forces. The Guardian Council said it had discovered some voting irregularities.

Iran's supreme leader passionately defended last week's presidential election process today, praising President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as a "definitive victory" and denying charges of vote-rigging.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders a high-level clerical panel to investigate.

The independent electoral commission has received a flood of complaints about fraud and other violations from the largely Sunni Arab Anbar province.