VZCZCXRO9109
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK
DE RUEHDIR #0024/01 3531711
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P R 191711Z DEC 06
FM IRAN RPO DUBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0042
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHDIR/IRAN RPO DUBAI 0035
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDHP/DIA DHP-1 WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0041
RUEHAD/USDAO ABU DHABI TC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 IRAN RPO DUBAI 000024 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR GAYLE; BAKU FOR HAUGEN 
BERLIN FOR PAETZOLD; PARIS FOR WALLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/19/2016 
TAGS: PGOV IR
SUBJECT: VOTE COUNT ONGOING, POSSIBLE FRAUD CONCERNS BOTH SIDES 
 
REF: RPO DUBAI 0021 
 
RPO DUBAI 00000024  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Jillian Burns, Director, Iran Regional Presence 
Office, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
VOTE COUNT ONGOING, POSSIBLE FRAUD CONCERNS BOTH SIDES 
 
1.(C)Summary: Vote counting is still ongoing for the two major 
elections in Iran, but some provinces have reported final 
results.  In the Tehran Assembly of Experts competition, the 
final results showed an even higher count for frontrunner 
Expediency Council chairman Rafsanjani, leading a list of 16 
elected members with over 1.5 million votes.  Ayatollah 
Mesbah-Yazdi came in sixth place, and many of his supporters 
were vetted out from the campaign.  According to multiple 
sources, the Supreme Leader encouraged Rafsanjani to run and 
promised him a clean election.  What is particularly noteworthy 
is this result seems indicative of an interesting switch from 
the situation that contacts had been describing for months, that 
the Supreme Leader saw Rafsanjani as his primary threat and that 
he overestimated his ability to keep Mesbah-Yazdi boxed in. 
Partial results for the Tehran municipal elections suggest that 
supporters of Tehran mayor Qalibaf have fared well, possibly 
gaining a majority.  Ahmadinejad supporters seem likely to win 
as few as two seats on the fifteen-member council.  Ballots are 
being counted manually in Tehran, which may account for the 
delay in results.  Both reformers and conservatives have 
expressed concern over possible fraud or other voting 
irregularities. End summary. 
 
Supreme Leader no longer threatened by Rafsanjani? 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
2.(C) For months, contacts have told us that the Supreme Leader 
was erroneously focusing his attention on destroying his primary 
rival, who he saw to be Expediency Council chair Rafsanjani, 
while at the same time overestimating his ability to contain 
arch-conservative Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi.  However, the results 
of the Assembly of Experts elections would indicate that perhaps 
Khamenei has had a change of view.  Multiple sources say that 
the Supreme Leader encouraged Rafsanjani to run and even 
promised him that no one would interfere with his campaign.  At 
the same time, a number of Mesbah-Yazdi supporters were vetted 
out of the Assembly of Experts race.  Nonetheless, it is 
possible the Supreme Leader was not counting on Rafsanjani 
winning so decisively.  In the final vote count, Rafsanjani came 
in first with over 1.5 million votes, outpacing the next person 
on the list by over 500,000 votes.  Many observers are hailing 
this as a revival for the Expediency Council chairman, who 
suffered humiliating defeats in elections for the Majles and 
presidency, in 2000 and 2005 respectively. 
 
3.(S//NF) An Iranian-American, a long-term contact who travels 
frequently to Iran and was there during the election, repeated 
to IRPOff a similar story as in reftel about Khamenei 
encouraging a reluctant Rafsanjani to run in the election.  The 
Amcit, who claims an acquaintanceship with one of Rafsanjani's 
sons, said he heard from associates that Rafsanjani consulted 
Khamenei about whether to run for the Assembly of Experts, and 
Khamenei said that he should, perhaps in order to increase voter 
turnout.  Rafsanjani elicited a promise from Khamenei that there 
would be no interference in the election from the IRGC, but this 
promise was not kept, the source said.   On the day after the 
election, the Amcit claimed he was supposed to meet Rafsanjani's 
son, but heard instead there was controversy over how Rafsanjani 
had fared and the meeting did not take place.  Reportedly, 
Rafsanjani thought he was in first place, when he received a 
call from Supreme Council for National Security head Larijani 
congratulating him for his fourth place showing.  According to 
the Amcit, Rafsanjani then called Interior Minister Purmohammadi 
and sent his son Yasser to the Interior Ministry.  Later that 
night, they got news he had come in first place.  The Amcit 
pondered why the Interior Minister, who is close to Ahmadinejad, 
might have opted not to interfere with Rafsanjani. 
 
Result delay in municipal elections due to manual counting 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
4.(U) In the race for Tehran's municipal council, results have 
been delayed.  Domestic press has reported that the interior and 
electoral supervisory board of the city council disagreed over 
whether votes should be counted manually or by computer.  The 
officials reportedly eventually agreed on manual counting, which 
may be responsible for the delay in results.  Partial results 
 
RPO DUBAI 00000024  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
indicate a possible majority of seats on the 15-member council 
going to supporters of pragmatic conservative Tehran mayor 
Qalibaf, with Ahmadinejad's supporters winning as few as two 
seats, and the remainder, possibly four or five seats, going to 
reformers. 
 
Both sides fear interference or fraud 
------------------------------------- 
 
5.(U) Both conservatives and reformers have expressed concern 
about fraud or other irregularities.  Ahmadinejad's supporters 
have called for a recount of ballots for the Tehran municipal 
council, despite the fact that the final count has not been 
announced.  At the same time, reformers have expressed concern 
about the delays in vote counting in Tehran.  The reformers 
claim that manual vote counting is against electoral law since 
it requires ballots to be transported from the polling station, 
and that counting is not being properly supervised.  The 
moderate reform National Trust Party called on the Interior 
Ministry to investigate specific complaints, including reports 
that representatives of reform candidates were barred from 
polling stations, while Ahmadinejad's supporters were permitted 
to distribute leaflets.  There are also allegations that some 
candidates' names were left off the ballot in the city of 
Mashhad, and that the Tehran Friday prayers pulpit was used 
inappropriately the day of the election as a campaign venue 
after campaigns were supposed to have ceased.  Reformist 
candidates in the Tehran municipal elections have reportedly 
sent a letter of protest to Majles speaker Haddad-Adel, 
complaining about the post-election process. 
6.(S//NF) The Amcit said he heard that prior to the elections, 
Guardian Council chair Jannati tried to avoid having elections 
inspectors, or at least  a smaller number.  According to the 
contact, multiple sources said that when inspectors arrived at 
elections headquarters to get their badges, they encountered 
problems, and many left the headquarters frustrated and went 
home. 
 
7.(C) Comment:  The Supreme Leader - Rafsanjani - Ahmadinejad 
relationship remains as murky as ever.  Some contacts have said 
that the Supreme Leader has suffered in terms of support as a 
result of standing by Ahmadinejad.  How he views the landslide 
win of Rafsanjani, his perennial rival, is unknown.  The 
Assembly of Experts as an entity will not provoke any immediate 
change to Iran's political scene, but it will be interesting to 
watch how or if Rafsanjani asserts himself politically in the 
coming weeks, bolstered by his big win.  Several contacts, as 
well as numerous press reports have termed this moment a 
"turning point" in Ahmadinejad's fate as a politician. 
Although Rafsanjani's win and the partial municipal council 
results suggest a political setback for Ahmadinejad, it is too 
early to predict whether this apparent downturn in his political 
fortunes is permanent or whether he can regroup. 
 
 
8.(C) Comment con't:  Allegations of fraud or other electoral 
violations appear increasingly serious as the vote count delay 
continues.  However, as with the 2005 presidential election, 
there will likely never be a complete public accounting for the 
allegations.  Nonetheless, the allegations will continue to 
provide rhetorical fodder for politicians from all sides. 
Presumably, Ahmadinejad and his government would have been the 
best placed to carry out vote manipulation, which makes his 
relative defeat even more significant. 
BURNS