Mousavi says his staff arrested, wants independent review of election result

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Mousavi rejects partial recount.

Vancouverite News Service©

Tehran – Iran’s opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has rejected a plan by the Guardian Council to recount 10% of ballot boxes and insisted voting fraud was so wide-spread the impasse can only be resolved through an annulment of the election.

Mousavi has also complained his campaign chief and office staff have been arrested and his headquarters sealed.

But Mousavi has also left open the possibility of an impartial body comprised of people approved by all sides to investigate the election outcome that has sparked the biggest challenge to the ruling clergy.

“.. limiting the investigation into the complaints of electoral fraud to 10% of ballot boxes will not serve to inspire the confidence of the people, or to satisfy the public with regards to the findings,” he said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.

He said complaints of irregularities are so high that “that leaves no option other than the annulment of the elections and holding new elections.”

He complained of the use of government resources by Ahmadinejad, use of state-owned press to shut out opposition candidates and promotion of incumbent, buying votes by distribution of stocks and cash, fraudulent counting, creation of limitations on observers at polling stations, rendering SMS inoperable even though it was primary means of communicating between Mousavi supporters, reporting of results in government-controlled media before officials release and the fact that at 170 polling stations the ballots amounted to 95 to 140 per cent of registered voters.
“Attacking campaign offices in Tehran and provinces, sealing of my campaign headquarters, and the arrest of my campaign chief and staff that limited our ability to comprehensively documentation the electoral violation cases,” Mousavi added in his tally of repression and irregularities.

“An impartial review of this case fundamentally cannot be conducted by the Guardian Council, neither can it, as before, be left to a committee that is selected by your council, not to mention that since some members of your council do not have an impartial view and have voiced their opinions regarding the verdict before looking into the matter, doing so will not help to clarify the situation or to pacify the public perception,” he added.

“Therefore, while calling again for the annulment of the elections as the most appropriate way to exit the current impasse and restore the public trust, and only as a way to leave the door open for finding a method to review [the complaints] through a national jury council, and to ensure that people’s complaints ares reviewed in a national body whose verdict is trusted by all voters,” he said.

Mousavi said the committee chosen to look into the validity of the electoral process should be agreeable to all candidates and the Grand Ayatollahs.

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