Region | Iran

Iran's Rezai withdraws poll complaints: IRNA

One of the three defeated candidates in Iran's disputed presidential election has withdrawn his complaints.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 10:11 June 24, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP
  • A woman demonstrates against the official Iranian election result, during a protest in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday, June 20, 2009. More than 1,000 demonstrators took to the streets in Hamburg, according to police, as people gather to express their solidarity with opposition supporters in Iran who risk confrontation with police if they take to the streets in their country.
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Tehran: One of the three defeated candidates in Iran's disputed presidential election has withdrawn his complaints about the vote, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Conservative Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards head who finished third in the June 12 election according to official results, cited the country's sensitive political and security conditions as reasons for his decision.

"I see it as my responsibility to encourage myself and others to control the current situation," Rezai was quoted as saying in a letter to Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council.

"Therefore I announce that I'm withdrawing my submitted complaints," said Rezai, who had previously said he had won many more votes than the official tally showed.

The other two defeated candidates - moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi - have demanded that the election be annulled.

Mousavi says the vote was rigged in favour of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a charge rejected by authorities.

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