Guardian Council in Iran to Recount Contested Vote

By NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN
NYT

TEHRAN — Less than 24 hours after the largest demonstrations here since the 1979 revolution and the reported deaths of seven protesters, Iran’s Guardian Council said Tuesday it was prepared to order a recount of disputed ballots in Friday’s deeply divisive elections, but ruled out an annulment of the vote, according to state television and news reports.

The announcement seemed to represent a further reluctant concession from the authorities following Monday’s decision by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to conduct a formal review of the electoral process, which the opposition says was rigged.

But it fell short of demands by the main opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, and other opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the vote to be annulled so that a new election can be held. Mr. Moussavi has also said he does not trust the Guardian Council. The election results, announced Saturday, showed an overwhelming victory for Mr. Ahmadinejad.

Quoting Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, state television reported that the 12-member Guardian Council, a clerical oversight panel that vets laws and elections, had agreed to recount specific ballot boxes at voting sites where the opposition says there were irregularities.

(More here.)