The Public Affairs Office of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied allegations published in an article on the Baztab website that he received eight million fraudulent votes in the 2009 presidential election.
Previously, the Baztab website had reported that a group of financial partners of Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, the president’s top aide, had said that Ahmadinejad possesses an audio recording of a conversation between him and election officials, in which he is told that he had received 16 million votes but the officials were going to increase it by eight million to make it look like he had defeated reformist candidate MirHosein Mousavi by a large margin.
The report indicates that Ahmadinejad had urged them to leave his votes at 16 million but his request was refused.
The report was removed from the Baztab site after facing criticism.
The office of the president has reportedly denied all the allegations, calling them “unfounded and pure falsehoods.”
The office of the president announced that the report is aimed at “undermining the 2009 election and questioning the health of the coming election.”
Iran’s presidential election is slated for June 2013.
