[R-G] Ahmadinejad Leads Mousavi in Preliminary Results

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

If the trend holds, Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public
Opinion, the only Western outfit that conducted a pre-election survey
of Iranian voter preferences of the four candidates (see it at
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran110609.html>), can claim
foresight.  -- Yoshie

<http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=97953&sectionid=351020101>
Ahmadinejad leads Mousavi in preliminary results
Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:59:18 GMT

Official preliminary results show that Iran's incumbent President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leading the polls with 69.04 percent of the
ballots that have so far been counted.

In a surprise press briefing, Iran's Election Commission Chief, Kamran
Daneshjoo, announced that 19.42 percent of the votes were counted
until 23:54 local time (20:24 GMT).

According to Daneshjoo, Ahmadinejad is leading in the polls, followed
by Mir-Hossein Mousavi who has 28.42 percent of the votes.

Preliminary results show that Mohsen Rezaei has won 1.62 percent of
the votes and Mehdi Karroubi has grabbed 0.9 percent.

According to Press TV's correspondent at the Election Commission
Headquarters, Gissoo Ahmadi, more than 32 million people have cast
their ballot in the election that saw a massive turnout on Friday June
12.

Our correspondent added that the briefing was unexpected and that the
reporters were surprised by the announcement, which was not due until
dawn.

The press briefing came after Mousavi claimed victory with 54 percent
of the vote in a separate news conference.