No surprise here (via the NYT): Top Clerical Council in Iran Rejects Plea to Annul Vote
On Press TV, the English-language state television satellite broadcaster, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, declared: “If a major breach occurs in an election, the Guardian Council may annul the votes that come out of a particular affected ballot box, polling station, district, or city.”“Fortunately, in the recent presidential election we found no witness of major fraud or breach in the election,” he said.
“Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place.” He was speaking late on Monday in Tehran and his remarks were posted early Tuesday, Tehran time.
The official certification will come tomorrow according to the report. One suspects, however, that the certification of the vote will only spark more protests and since the Guardian Council has not done anything to this point to assuage the suspicions of the opposition, it is likely damaging its own public image by this pronouncement, especially since it has already admitted that the turnout in 50 cities exceeded the number of eligible voters.
Beyond that, the state appears able to maintain pressure on protesters via security forces:
On Monday, the Guardian Council insisted that the overall vote was valid, even as security forces stepped up their threats to treat demonstrators as criminals seeking to destabilize the country.Sphere: Related ContentA group of as many as a thousand demonstrators at Haft-e-tir Square in central Tehran was quickly overwhelmed Monday by baton-wielding riot police and tear gas shortly after the Revolutionary Guards issued an ominous warning on their Web site saying that protesters would face “revolutionary confrontation.”
