US takes a new swipe at Iran's elections

WASHINGTON – AFP- The United States on Monday dismissed Iran's presidential elections as "unrepresentative" and "repressive" and argued that the country's people deserved better.

A first round of voting on Friday was "basically highly unrepresentative," said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli.

"The election process as a whole (was) certainly not responsive to what the Iranian people are looking for which is more participation, not less; more freedoms, not less; and more democracy, not less."

Ereli criticised "an unelected clerical elite" for "selectively choosing candidates who could run" the conduct of the voting and a run-off stage planned for Friday.

"The choices they're making in terms of democratic development are baffling but, unfortunately, consistent with choices they make in other areas that are contrary to trends we see in the rest of the world," he said mentioning Iran's stance on nuclear weapons and terrorism.

Ereli's criticism came a day after his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blasted the polls during a a tour of the Middle East.

"The appearance of elections does not mask the organised cruelty of Iran's theocratic state," Rice said.

"The Iranian people are capable of liberty. They desire liberty. And they deserve liberty. The time has come for the unelected few to release their grip on the aspirations of the proud people of Iran," she added.

President George W. Bush also savaged the electoral process before the vote, and officials Monday shrugged off any suggestion they were failing to see some movement towards democracy in the elections.

"This isn't democracy, this is control, tightened repressive control," said a senior State Department official on condition of anonymity.

"You need to call it as you see it, that is what we are doing."

Iranian authorities agreed Monday to a limited recount of votes from the election in response to allegations that vote-rigging helped a radical hardliner into a second-round run-off.

Three candidates complained of smear campaigns and organised fraud in Friday's vote, which saw hardline Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad come a close second behind moderate conservative cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.