DUSHANBE, June 13, 2009, Asia-Plus – Iranian Interior Ministry announced that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won 21,781,391 votes from a total number of 34,377,793 ballots read so far, Fars News Agency (FNA) reports.
An Interior Ministry statement said that from a total number of 366 towns and cities, ballots cast in 346 cities have so far been read.
According to the Ministry, from a number of 34,377,793 ballots counted so far, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has collected 21,781,391 votes (63.36%), while his closest rival Mir Hossein Mousavi has won 11,709,391 votes (34.07%).
Principlist politician and former chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Mohsen Rezai Mir-Qaed is third with 587,913 votes (1.72%) and former Iranian Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi is last with 298,798 votes (0.87%) cast in his favor.
A number of 45,713 ballot boxes were stationed in 368 cities and 558 districts inside the country while 304 ballot boxes in 32 polling stations gathered the votes of the Iranian expatriates in 130 world countries.
The Iranian interior ministry had announced that the final results of the presidential election would be declared today.
According to presidential election laws, all Iranian nationals above 18 years of age were eligible to vote, meaning that around 46.2 million Iranian citizens could take part in the election.
