The Hindu : Front Page : Khamenei endorses election results, warns protesters

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Khamenei endorses election results, warns protesters

Atul Aneja

“There is a difference of 11 million votes. How can one rig the polls?”

PHOTO: AFP

BOOST FOR AHMADINEJAD: After Friday prayers at Tehran University, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (far right, third row) backed the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (standing next to him). —

DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has firmly endorsed the results of the disputed presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was chosen as President for a second successive term, and warned protesters to keep off the streets.

In a much-awaited Friday prayer sermon focusing on the post-election situation, Ayatollah Khamenei pronounced that the election represented a “definitive victory” for Iran’s unique Islamic democracy. He ruled out rigging as alleged by opposition leader Mir Hosain Mousavi.

The margin of victory in favour of Mr. Ahmadinejad showed that rigging was not possible. “There is a difference of 11 million votes. How can one rig them?” he said.

Ayatollah Khamenei pointed out that his views closely aligned with those of the President.

Commenting on the massive street protests after the announcement of the June 12 election results, he said the protesters would be “held responsible for the chaos if they didn’t end” their demonstrations. If the demonstrations continued, the protesters would have to face the consequences “behind the scenes.”

“If the demonstrators imagine that they can pressure the regime and change its ways, then they are wrong,” he asserted.

Warning foreign countries against interfering in Iran’s affairs, he said Tehran would not become a victim of colour revolutions as witnessed in the former Soviet Union. Referring to Israel which, he said, spent millions on regime change in Georgia, he said: “They [Israelis] think that the Islamic republic is similar to Georgia. [They] don’t know the people of Iran.”

Senior figures of the security establishment have earlier hinted that Mr. Mousavi’s green-coded campaign appeared similar to the “velvet revolutions” of eastern European countries. Ayatollah Khamenei compared the “unprecedented” 40 million turnout at the elections to a political quake that had hit the “enemy.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also defended the former President, Hashemi Rafsanjani, whom President Ahmadinejad had accused of corruption during a televised debate in the run-up to the elections.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani heads the powerful 89-member Assembly of Experts, which is empowered to monitor the activities of the Supreme Leader and can, theoretically, remove him.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s daughter, Faezeh Rafsanjani, had addressed one of the demonstrations, while his wife, Efat Marashi, has encouraged demonstrators to persist with their protests.

Analysts point out that the establishment will find it difficult to take on an alliance of students, reformists and sections of the clergy where Ayatollah Rafsanjani is influential.

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