TEHRAN, June 18: The shock presidential election showing by Tehran’s right-wing Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad was the result of an elaborate plot to rig the polls, one of the beaten reformist contenders alleged on Saturday.

“There has been bizarre interference. Money has changed hands,” Mehdi Karoubi, the centrist-reformist leader and former parliament speaker, told reporters in an unprecedented allegation.

“They can go and file a lawsuit against me, but I will give all the names of the people in power in my defence,” he said defiantly.

Mr Ahmadinejad immediately hit back at Mr Karoubi, who came in third and was therefore ousted from the race, and said the reformist was merely showing sour grapes.

“Those who the people do not choose in an election always have the tendency to complain,” Mr Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

But Mr Karoubi insisted Mr Ahmadinejad’s showing was highly suspicious and appealed to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to ‘appoint an honest and trusted committee’ to probe the Guardians Council — an unelected political watchdog — the interior ministry, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia.

“The Guardians Council would have appointed Ahmadinejad without any election,” Mr Karoubi fumed, saying “some people have been denied their rights.”

“I see this election as being rigged,” charged Mr Karoubi.

He also claimed he had ‘tapes’ that implicated Revolutionary Guard commanders, and said some members of the hardline Basij militia had been allowed to vote more than once.

In early counting, the former parliament speaker was placed first, but said ‘suddenly one of the candidates had one million more votes and the Guardians Council showed up on television and announced this’.

He also pointed to a headline in the prominent right-wing Kayhan newspaper before the count began, that predicted what looks set to be the result.

“The interior ministry and the Guardians Council are both under accusation,” Mr Karoubi said, labelling the Council as ‘puppets’ of a ‘network’.

The main reformist candidate, Mostafa Moin, also had a disappointed showing and his camp said they had also noted irregularities.

“We protested over the presence of Basiji supervisors in the polling centres, and Dr Moin will issue a statement,” his spokeswoman said.

Prior to the election, some reformist government officials had warned mysteriously of a plan by some elements in the Iranian military to interfere in the polls, but gave no details. —AFP