Iran Council Finds Some Poll Irregularities

Heavy Security Reins In Iranian Protests

FARNAZ FASSIHI

AFP/Getty Images

Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi throw stones at riot police Saturday.

TEHRAN -- Iran's Guardian Council, a top review panel with responsibility for overseeing the June 12 presidential election, said it had uncovered some irregularities in the polls, finding the number of votes in 50 districts exceeded the number of voters.

In Tehran, riot police attacked hundreds of protesters with tear gas, and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally, the Associated Press reported, while an escalating campaign of arrests and the continued political standoff signaled a potential widening divide among Iran's power holders.

A senior Iranian petroleum official, meanwhile, was quoted early Monday saying post-election unrest hadn't affected the country's oil output or crude exports.

The Guardian Council announcement, made Monday on state-run media, was the first admission by authorities of voter irregularities. But a council spokesman also said the irregularities were much less wide-spread than unsuccessful opposition candidates had alleged in recent complaints.

Warning: This YouTube video contains graphic images. It purports to show a woman dying after being shot in an Iran street protest. The Wall Street Journal has not independently verified its contents.

Violence in Iran Escalates

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Iranian protestors are faced with a ruthless crackdown as authorities deploy gunfire, teargas and water cannons and threaten the crowds with arrest. Video courtesy of Fox News.

"Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate," said council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, according to state media. "The incident has happened in only 50 cities," Mr. Kadkhodaei said. Iran has more than 360 districts.

Mr. Kadkhodaei said that the affected votes could be as high as three million, but that it wouldn't noticeably affect the outcome of the election. An estimated 34 million to 36 million cast ballots. Mr. Kadkhodaei said, however, that the Guardian Council could recount the effected ballots if the candidates ask for it.

The country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that the margin of victory in the race won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was so big that the ultimate result of the polls wasn't in question. That has convinced opposition supporters that a meaningful recount was unlikely.

Mr. Kadhodaei said voter turnout of above 100% in some cities is a normal phenomenon because there is no legal restriction against people voting in a city or province in which they aren't registered. Chatham House, a London think tank, on Sunday also raised questions about excessive turnout based on voter returns and census data.

The Guardian Council admission was the latest in several apparent concessions to opposition candidates, whose supporters have flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities in demonstrations against the polls. The Guardian Council has said it was probing more than 600 complaints in the polling made by candidates.

Also Monday, one of Iran's top petroleum officials said the post-election unrest hadn't impacted the country's oil output or crude exports.

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Associated Press

A protester threw a projectile at riot police in Tehran Saturday.

"The recent developments in the country have had no impact on the oil industry or crude exports. The national oil industry is 100% normal," Mohammad ali Khatibi, Iran's governor at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was quoted saying on state media.

Amid international worry that street unrest or possible calls for wide-scale industrial action or strikes could affect Iran's oil output, Mr. Khatibi said the country's oil fields and refineries were outside urban areas and far from the places where the people have been staging protest rallies.

"The unrest has not even affected gas stations, let alone the country's production and export of crude," he was quoted saying.

On Saturday, protesters battled security forces in scenes that often looked like an uprising, according to eyewitnesses. State media reported a bomb blast Saturday at the mausoleum of the founder of Iran's revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, killing the bomber and injuring three.

Street protesters shouted "Death to dictator," and threw rocks and bricks at security forces. Authorities hit back with water cannons and tear gas and beat people violently with batons, according to videos online and eyewitness reports.

Relative and tenuous calm was restored Sunday to parts of the capital amid heavy displays of security, but a campaign of arrests escalated. Iran's state media reported the arrest of five members from one of the most prominent political families here. Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's daughter and granddaughter were among those detained as they participated in Saturday's street demonstrations. Later, family members said all had been released.

Uniformed security agents also arrested Newsweek magazine's Tehran correspondent, Maziar Bahari, who has made documentaries on Iran and Iraq, the magazine said. He is among 24 journalists and bloggers who have been arrested since the start of the dispute last week, according to local media. The BBC said its Tehran correspondent was being expelled.

In central and southern Tehran, where protests were larger and more violent, security forces armed with batons and guns lined up every few yards on Sunday. Plainclothes security officials typical of the Basij militia, a paramilitary force, circled sidestreets in motorcycles and stood guard at intersections hurrying pedestrians and cars. Helicopters hovered.

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In northern areas normal life picked up during the day. Shops and restaurants opened for business and residents said the nightly clashes between opposition and pro-government supporters had quieted after the arrests and clampdowns. But even there some protesters took to rooftops after dusk again Sunday. Witnesses told Reuters of hearing rooftop chants of "God is great," and shooting in one area as authorities attempted to break up protests.

After a week of violent unrest across the country, casualty numbers weren't certain. The government put the official death toll so far at 13, with hundreds more injured. On Sunday, a number of families spent the morning frantically searching for their loved ones in police stations, prisons, hospitals and the city's morgue. Around 4 p.m., hundreds of family members of victims of Saturday's violent clashes held a sit-in, but security forces dispersed them.

President Barack Obama expressed concern about violence and "unjust actions" against Iranian demonstrators, echoing remarks Saturday when he challenged Iran's government to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

Some Republicans continued to urge a stronger tack. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, on ABC's "This Week," said Mr. Obama was being "timid and passive." But others, including influential Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, backed the White House approach. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel acknowledged the difficult balance in an interview, saying the U.S. wanted to recognize the protesters without "suffocating" them.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reform candidate now turned opposition leader, condemned the government's violent crackdowns on protesters and said he would stand by them until martyrdom.

On his Web site, Mr. Mousavi said his position that election results were rigged against him hasn't changed. Mr. Mousavi and his supporters have openly defied the orders of Iran's Supreme Leader, who called during Friday prayer sermons for the protests to end and for the election dispute to be settled by legal channels. The Web site called for a general strike and suggested targeting the flow of oil.

In a report released Sunday, Chatham House raised questions about some of the results, using publicly available census data and results published by the ministry of interior for elections in 2005 and 2009. Researchers determined that in two conservative-leaning provinces, voter turnout exceeded 100%.

The report showed that in a third of provinces, Mr. Ahmadinejad would have had to capture all of his traditional voter base, plus a high percentage of voters who previously didn't support him, to reach his purported total.

One of the biggest mysteries in the election dispute has been the role of former president Mr. Rafsanjani. One of the most powerful men in Iran, he is head of the clerical body with the power to name and remove the country's Supreme Leader. Although a conservative pragmatist, he has clashed with Mr. Ahmadinejad on several occasions and endorsed Mr. Mousavi's candidacy. His children who campaigned for Mr. Mousavi were labeled "corrupt rich brats" by Mr. Ahmadinejad.

Some analysts suggest a widening rift between him and Mr. Khamenei, including over naming a future successor for the Supreme Leader. "The battle has gone all the way to the top. It's no longer just about elections," said Essa Saharkheez, a political analyst based in Tehran.