Iran: The Over 100 per cent voting phenomenom.

This is from presstv. Some bloggers and news media pick this up without explaining the context. On the face of it the fact over 100% voted shows fraud but as the article explains people can vote in areas other than where they are registered or eligible. As a result some areas may have considerable numbers of voters who would be registered elsewhere. As the Guardian Council put it for this to happen is normal. With the added voters the tally can easily go over 100 per cent of those eligible in an area particularly when there is a very high turnout-- as both sides agree there was. Nevertheless over 100 per cent in 50 cities seems a lot but the number of votes involved is not sufficient to give Mousavi a win. But all this assumes the Guardian Council is not fudging the figures itself or the alternative explanation could be that there was over 100 percent because the ballot boxes were stuffed! In fact both could be true. My own view of the election is that there was no doubt some cheating but that from the polls before the election Ahmadinejad probably won anyway.


Guardian Council: Over 100% voted in 50 cities
Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:33:38 GMT
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The Guardian Council Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei
Iran's Guardian Council has suggested that the number of votes collected in 50 cities surpass the number of people eligible to cast ballot in those areas. The council's Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei -- a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election. "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," Kadkhodaei said. Kadkhodaei further explained that the voter turnout of above 100% in some cities is a normal phenomenon because there is no legal limitation for people to vote for the presidential elections in another city or province to which people often travel or commute. According to the Guardian Council spokesman, summering areas and places like district one and three in Tehran are not separable. The spokesman, however, said that the vote tally affected by such issues could be over 3 million and would not noticably affect the outcome of the election. He, however, added that the council could, at the request of the candidates, re-count the affected ballot boxes, and determine " whether the possible change in the tally is decisive in the election results," reported Khabaronline. Three of the four candidates contesting in last Friday's presidential election cried foul, once the Interior Ministry announced the results - according to which incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner with almost two-thirds of the vote. Rezaei, along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, reported more than 646 'irregularities' in the electoral process and submitted their complaints to the body responsible for overseeing the election -- the Guardian Council. Mousavi and Karroubi have called on the council to nullify Friday's vote and hold the election anew. This is while President Ahmadinejad and his Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli have rejected any possibility of fraud, saying that the election was free and fair.