Tehran, June 29: Iran’s Guardian Council has offered opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi a deal to settle the dispute over alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election. Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said a special committee would be formed to review the disputed poll results that gave president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a victory.
The council also called on Moussavi and fellow defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi to send representatives within 24 hours to join the committee. Moussavi demanded an independent committee to evaluate the election results, but supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected it, saying prevailing laws and the constitution gave the Guardian Council sole authority regarding election results.
Moussavi and other opposition groups argued that the Guardian Council was neither qualified nor impartial to review the results, as most of its 12 members support Ahmadinejad. The council’s new offer is believed to be an effort by the Iran govt to find a compromise with the opposition leader. Kadkhodaei said it was meant to “attract trust” of Moussavi.
–Agencies