Iranian press proclaims Ahmadinejad winner

TEHRAN, June 12 (UPI) -- Both sides claimed victory late Friday in the Iranian election, with official state news agencies giving the win to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mir-Hossein Moussavi, a former prime minister and the leading opposition candidate in the four-man race, held a late-night news conference to proclaim himself the winner, based on reports he was getting from voting sites, the Financial Times reported. He begged Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the Supreme Leader, "not to allow irregularities."

The Interior Ministry released figures that gave 69 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 28 percent to Moussavi with less than 20 percent of the vote counted.

"IRNA reports show that Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad has achieved the majority of votes with a huge margin and is ahead of Mir-Hossein Moussavi," the Islamic Republic News Agency said. "He managed to get the votes of the Iranian nation."

Turnout was high, estimated at more than 70 percent, and many would-be voters were still in line after the polls were supposed to have closed. In recent days, Ahmadinejad's opponents held huge rallies.

Under Iranian law, a candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote to win outright. If no one crosses the line, the two top vote-getters meet in a runoff.

Moussavi said there were a number of irregularities. He said his supervisors had been thrown out of voting places and delivery of ballot papers was delayed at some busy polling stations.