Hundreds of foreign reporters to cover Iran elections

Hundreds of foreign reporters have travelled to Iran to cover the country’s June 14th elections, Press TV reports.

“Around 430 reporters representing 190 different media from 40 countries are here to cover the presidential election,” Alireza Shirvani, head of the Foreign Reporters Bureau of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, said in a Wednesday press conference in Tehran.

He noted that the number of foreign reporters covering the presidential election has increased about 15 percent compared to the presidential race four years ago.

Also at the press conference, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the Guardian Council, the body that vets the presidential candidates and supervises the election, briefed the reporters on the Friday polls.

“The preliminary results of the election will be announced by the Interior Ministry. It is not for me to say when they will announce it. The Guardian Council must authenticate the results and announce it after all the complaints are reviewed,” Kadkhodaei told reporters.

“The process can take place between seven to ten days according to the Article 79 of Iran election law,” he added.

The Guardian Council spokesman rejected the idea of the presence of international observers, saying, “People believe that international observers coming to Iran would be an insult to them, and it is not acceptable.”

Foreign media reporters have expressed satisfaction with the government’s cooperation and praised the Iranian people’s desire to participate in the election.

Iranians will cast their ballots at over 66,000 polling stations across the country in the nation’s 11th presidential election on June 14. Iranian nationals abroad will also be able to vote at 285 polling stations that will be set up overseas.

The fourth city and rural council elections are also scheduled to be held on the same day.

Opinion polls also show that more than 60 percent of the nearly 50.5 million eligible voters will be taking part in the election.