Iran Guardian Council admits voting irregularity but says it's normal

Opponents of President Ahmadinejad, who was officially re-elected with two thirds of the vote, claimed that the result was the consequence of a massive fraud and have claimed that in some places voter turnout was higher than 100 per cent, suggesting the results had been fabricated.

Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, which has been tasked with looking at 646 separate allegations of breaches of the electoral rules, admitted on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2, that turnout was impossibly high in a number of places.

He said, "Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate -- the incident has happened in only 50 cities,"

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However he claimed that this was a normal phenomenon as people were able to vote in any province or city, according to Iran's state-run press TV.

He added that as many as 3 million votes could have been affected by this effect and that, should the losing candidates request, the affected ballot boxes could be recounted, however the spokesman conceded this may not have a decisive effect on the result of the election.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has rejected calls for a recount and has demanded the election be annulled and re-run, despite Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei saying that the result stands.