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Iran Admits Election Errors: 50 Cities Impacting 3 Million Votes

by Tina Kells | June 22, 2009 at 11:21 am

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Iran's Guardian Council, the senior most panel of election monitors, made note of election errors and voting irregularities in 50 cities, amounting to 3 million miscast or questionable votes in Iran's recent elections. The pronouncement came June 22, 2009, just two days after Iran's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had declared the election to be fair and unobstructed.

CNN has reported that Iranian diplomats and their families are leaving Iran on the cusp of the election error admission. Protests continue throughout Iran and officials are preparing for an escalation of unrest after the announcement of more than 3 million voting errors. There are unconfirmed reports that a general strike may happen on Thursday as part of an urged day of protest.

The discrepancies, the most sweeping acknowledged by the authorities, could affect some three million ballots of what the government says was an 85% turnout numbering 40 million voters.

But the authorities insisted that the discrepancies did not violate Iranian law. The Guardian Council, charged with certifying the election, said it was not clear whether they would decisively change the result.

Despite an admission by Iran's senior election monitoring panel that the number of votes cast in 50 Iranian cities exceeded the actual number of voters, Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened "revolutionary confrontation" with protesters if public demonstrations continue. The Guardian Council said it was not clear whether the contested 3 million ballots would decisively affect the election results.

Despite the noted voting irregularities, the Guardian Council stated with certainty that it did not believe the outcome of the election was impacted. The Guardian Council found that the number of ballots cast in 50 cities exceeded the number of people who registered to vote in those jurisdictions by a total of 3 million, or 7.5% of the total 40 million votes cast.

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