Iran poll critics shun ceremony: Senior Iranian political figures appear to have snubbed the formal endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was among those not at Monday's ceremony, state TV said. -BBC

TEHRAN, Aug. 3 (Mehr News Agency) -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called the June 12 presidential election glorious.

The participation of 85 percent of eligible voters in the recent presidential election showed the people's attachment to their achievements over the past 30 years, Ayatollah Khamenei said in the document officially endorsing the second term of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which was read out at the endorsement ceremony, which was held in Tehran on Monday.
 

"The people's decisive and unprecedented vote for the elected president is a vote approving the four-year performance of the ninth administration," part of the document said.

The election was in fact a vote in favor of the campaign against arrogance, brave resistance against international hegemonists, the campaign against poverty and corruption, and the administration's strenuous efforts, Ayatollah Khamenei wrote in the document.

And "these are the main things that the Iranian nation expects of elected officials," he added.

Whenever people see that an official is trying to achieve such objectives, they put their hope in him and choose him to take up a responsibility, he wrote.
 

"I congratulate (everyone) on the election of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the tenth presidential election, and follow the great nation of Iran, and endorse their vote, and appoint this brave, hardworking, and intelligent man as the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I wish him and his colleagues success in serving the people... obviously the people's vote and my endorsement will last as long as he sticks to this path," he added.

... Payvand News - 08/03/09 ... --