On the streets: the Guardian Council has ruled out annulling the election results despite unrest across Iran
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Guardian Council shrugs off poll demand
Iran's top legislative body has again ruled out any annulment of the 12 June presidential election, as demanded by two defeated candidates, state television said.
"Iran's Guardian Council rejects annulment of the 12 June presidential election, saying that there have been no major polling irregularities," Reuters quoted a broadcast on English-language Press TV as saying.
The report came a day after one of the beaten candidates, pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, repeated his call for the council to annul the election, which official results showed was won by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Instead of wasting time on recounting some ballot boxes ... cancel the vote," Karoubi said in a letter to the council.
Mirhossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger in the election, has also called for the vote to be annulled, citing irregularities.
The authorities reject opposition charges of vote fraud.
Meanwhile, a Press TV report said a date had been set for Ahmadinejad's inauguration, saying the president would be "sworn in before parliament between 26 July and 19 August".
Earlier today, Press TV quoted a Guardian Council spokesman as saying most of the complaints received by the body, which must approve election results, were about alleged irregularities before the election and not during and after the vote.
"Fortunately we have witnessed no major irregularites during the country's recent presidential election and therefore there is no reason to annul the election," Reuters quoted council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai as saying.
The council had made clear before that it would not annul the election, saying last week it was only ready to recount a random 10% of the votes cast.
Official results of the election, released on 13 June, sparked the most widespread street protests in Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The defeated candidates have submitted a total of 646 complaints about the election.
Earlier this week, Kadkhodai said one common complaint was that the number of votes surpassed eligible voters in some constituencies.
But he said it may have been due to the fact Iranians could vote wherever they wanted and that in any case it would not have had any major impact on the election result.
The council is a 12-man body, six senior clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader and six Islamic jurists, which must ensure all laws agree with Islamic Sharia law and Iran's constitution.
It also vets potential candidates for presidential elections.
- EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran