Council admits voting irregularities

TEHRAN, June 22 (UPI) -- Iran's election authority said Monday ballot discrepancies were found in some cities, but said the inconsistencies didn't violate the country's election laws.

Iran's Press TV reported the Guardian Council, which oversees the country's election process, said candidate Mohsen Rezaie alleged irregularities in 170 cities, but excessive ballots were found in only 50 cities, CNN said.

The council declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the landslide winner of the June 12 election over his nearest challenger, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who along with other candidates claimed vote fraud and called for another election.

Protests have taken place daily since the election, culminating in a violent confrontation Sunday in which Iranian officials said 13 people died and hundreds were wounded.

On his Web site, Mousavi called on his supporters to demonstrate peacefully despite warnings from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, that no protests would be allowed, The New York Times reported.

"Protesting to lies and fraud is your right," Mousavi wrote in his post.

Guardian Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said voting in those locations did not noticeably affect the outcome of the election, adding the council still would investigate complaints filed through "legal channels," CNN said. Tallies indicated more people voted than there were registered voters in the cities in question.

Kadkhodaei said a voter turnout higher than the list of registered voters was a "normal phenomenon" because people could legally vote in areas other than those in which they were registered.

Independent verification of news reports by Iranian media was unavailable. The Iranian government has imposed severe restrictions on foreign news coverage and warned foreign reporters who remained in the country to stay off the streets. It also ordered the BBC's correspondent expelled and Newsweek's correspondent detained, the Times reported.