Ahmadinejad: Iran's latest presidential election "most glorious"

• Source: Xinhua
• [20:02 June 14 2009]
• Comments

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the latest presidential election in which he was re-elected was the "most glorious" one.

File photograph taken on June 2, 2009 shows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes a victory sign in Tehran, capital of Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won a landslide victory in the 10th presidential election, securing a second term of presidency for the next four years, Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said on Saturday afternoon. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz)
 

"The most glorious election was held in Iran on Friday," Ahmadinejad told a press conference at the presidential compound Sunday afternoon.

"In Iran, the people decide whom they would vote for and no one can actually force them to vote for any particular individual," Ahmadinejad said, adding that Friday's election was a "free" one.

Iran's Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said on Saturday afternoon that Ahmadinejad won 62.63 percent of the total votes counted, while his main challenger, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, got 33.75 percent.

Mousavi, in a statement released Saturday on his website, protested "strongly" to the "obvious" violations in Iran' s presidential election.