(Iran's) Guardian Council: Over 100% voted in 50 cities

[kpete]

Source: Press TV

Guardian Council: Over 100% voted in 50 cities
Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:38:30 GMT

Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of those eligible to cast ballot in those areas.

The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.

"Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities," Kadkhodaei said.

The spokesman, however, said that although the vote tally affected by such an irregularity is over 3 million, "it has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline.

Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/98711.htm?sectionid=351020101

[hobbit709]

1. I didn't know they had Diebold too.

[ohio2007]

3. I didn't know they had Baghdad Bob either

The Guardian Council Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei

[JI7]

2. "only 50 cities"

hahahahaha

[rpannier]

4. Well to be fair

A village or town is not really a city.
So the 1231 people that voted in a village of 900 (men, women and children) does not count in the city category

[Zynx]

5. Their statement about the 3 million is not relevant.

If there are three million more votes than possible in 50 cities, then there is a good chance the overall count from those cities is incorrect too and not just the excess vote.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. Wow, that was better turnout than expected

Very impressive.

No wonder the Iranian people are upset if the election was stolen with over 100% turnout.

[tiny elvis]

7. looks bad

those numbers would be easy to prove or disprove
is the council accepting more than 3% overvote as true?
it looks like the spokesman is saying most of the overvote claims are not true
presstv may be conflating a claim of 3 million overvotes with "whether the amount is decisive"
anyway, I thank presstv for sparing us the details

[Odin2005]

8. Shoulda had Rove help them.

Idiots.

At least we caught them red-handed!

[Bushknew]

9. Iran Admits Discrepancies in 3 Million Votes

Source: NY Times

TEHRAN — Locked in a bitter contest with Iranians who say the presidential elections were rigged, the authorities have acknowledged that the number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters, state television reported Monday following assertions by the country’s supreme leader that the ballot was fair.

But the authorities insisted that discrepancies, which could affect three million votes, did not violate Iranian law and the country’s influential Guardian Council said it was not clear whether they would decisively change the election result.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?ref=world

[MADem]

10. Did not violate Iran's laws? And pigs fly!

I think Fat Tony Scalia oughta be the next Supreme Leader, if that's their attitude! One fat crook is as bad as the next....

They're short a few million defective votes, too. but never mind that....

[dorkulon]

12. Unbelievable. Well, at least any doubt that existed has been removed. This was a theft. /nt

[reorg]

16. misleading language

The number of votes in these cities did exceed the number of registered voters in these cities. Apparently not unusual in a country with many migrant workers.

Also interesting, according to an article in the Asia Times:

Mousavi complains that in some areas the votes cast were higher than the number of registered voters. But he fails to add that some of those areas, such as Yazd, were places where he received more votes that Ahmadinejad.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF19Ak02.html

[EFerrari]

11. I don't understand why these people have to steal elections when

they get to pick all the candidates. :crazy:

[damntexdem]

13. Oh, then it must have been a fair election -- with turnout that high.

;-)

Oh, wait, that was only in 50 cities, not 170. Well, what's wrong with the inhabitants of those other 120 cities? Not public-minded enough to turn out at rates over 100%! What lazy slugs!

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Anyone know how the Iranian voting system is meant to work?

These articles say that people are allowed to vote where they like. So how do they determine whether someone has voted elsewhere already - just the "I haven't got ink on my finger" test? Some form of token that is distributed beforehand and has to be handed in? However they do it, it sounds a bit like a system designed to be defrauded.

[reorg]

15. Info from IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems)

Voting in Iran

In Iran, voters can cast their ballot anywhere as long as they present their national identification book, or shenasnameh. The system is set up to prevent fraud at a number of levels, starting with voting procedures.

Iran has a two-part ballot – the ballot itself and a stub portion. When a voter enters the polling station, there is a check of their shenasnameh for authenticity to ensure the voter is eligible to vote (the voting age in Iran is 16) and that the voter has not already voted in the election. For every election in Iran, there is a unique ink stamp which is stamped into a voter’s shenasnameh. This latter check is based on an examination of the shenasnameh to ensure there is not already a stamp from the current election in the booklet.

The voter’s information, consisting of basic biographical data, is then entered onto the stub portion of the ballot. The stub, once detached from the ballot, cannot be matched to the ballot. There are no serial numbers or any other markings that tie the two parts together. Thus, each vote is ensured anonymity.

Once the stub portion of the ballot is completed and the shenasnameh stamped, the stub is separated from the ballot and deposited into a box where all stubs are collected. The voter then proceeds to the voting station, fills in the name of their desired candidate, folds the ballot in half and casts their ballot in a ballot box.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=89972006055&ref=mf

http://www.ifes.org/

[Prometheus Bound]

17. You are aware that over voting in some areas is quite common and legal in the Iranian system right?

Iranians can visit any polling site they choose to with their shenasnameh, which is why some districts end up with more ballots cast than eligible voters. People with summer or weekend houses, for example, often do not go home to vote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html?_r=1&ref=world

[ohio2007]

18. vote early, vote often.

But how did the gubmit count 40 million votes in just a couple of hours when the system is low tech "human optical scanned" ?

thats the question Obama should answer when asked about it in a few hours.
If the question is cleard to be asked that is..


The press conference today and questions about foreign policy will mark his presidency for the rest of the term imo.

So, whats he going to tell the world in diplomacy speak today ?

The world is watching.