Rift grows among Iranian leaders
21 June 2009
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- The public rift among Iranian leaders widened Sunday when the country's foreign minister disputed allegations of ballot irregularities even as the parliamentary speaker implied that the election authority had sided with one candidate.
"Although the Guardian Council is made up of religious individuals, I wish certain members would not side with a certain presidential candidate," Iran's influential parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting without naming whom he meant.
The comments were reported Sunday on government-funded Press TV and on another news Web site, Khabaronline.
Followers of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi have alleged that the council, which approves all candidates running for office and verifies election results, declared hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the elections despite indications of ballot fraud.
"A majority of people are of an opinion separate" from that of a minority, Larijani said.
Larijani's statement was in direct contrast to that of Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who said he considers the possibility of ballot irregularities in the presidential election as almost nonexistent.
"The possibility of organized and comprehensive disruption and irregularities in this election is almost close to zero given the composition of the people who are holding the election," Mottaki said
source: cnn.com/world
