From those champions of open and honest elections at Associated Press:
Limited recount possible in Iran’s disputed vote
By Ali Akbar Dareini And Nasser Karimi, Associated Press Writers
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s Islamic leadership is prepared to conduct a limited recount of disputed presidential elections, a spokesman said Tuesday, as thousands of people took to the streets to show support for the regime and authorities cracked down on independent media.
The announcement comes after Iran’s state radio reported earlier Tuesday that seven people were killed during clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day — the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles following the disputed election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner.
In downtown Tehran, thousands of people gathered Tuesday in a state-organized rally that Iran’s state media said was designed to demand punishment for the rioters from Monday’s clashes. While there had been reports earlier of another rally Tuesday of supporters of reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, possibly setting the stage for violent clashes, Moussavi, in a message posted on his Web site, said he would not be attending any rally and asked his supporters to "not fall in the trap of street riots" and "exercise self-restraint."
After images were shown around the world of mass protests and violence following the disputed election, the government on Tuesday cracked down on journalists.
Authorities restricted journalists, including Iranians working for foreign media from reporting on the streets, and said they could only work from their offices, conducting telephone interviews and monitoring official sources such as state television…
Also Tuesday, foreign reporters in Iran to cover last week’s elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials said they will not extend their visas.
A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted on state television as saying the recount would be limited to voting sites where candidates claim irregularities took place. He did not rule out the possibility of canceling the results, saying that is within the council’s powers, although nullifying an election would be an unprecedented step…
And we have this further clarification from Reuters:
Iran rules out annulment, Tehran crowds gather
By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s top legislative body on Tuesday ruled out annulling a disputed presidential poll that has prompted the biggest street protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but said it was prepared for a partial recount.
(Editors’ note: Reuters coverage is now subject to an Iranian ban on foreign media leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)
In what appeared to be a first concession by authorities to the protest movement, the 12-man Guardian Council said it was ready to re-tally votes in the poll, in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner.
But the powerful Council rejected reformist calls to annul Friday’s election, which set off swift-moving political turmoil, riveting attention on the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, locked in a nuclear dispute with the West…
Well, a limited recount should be a snap.
Given that they counted the original vote – which were on more than 40 million paper ballots – within a mere couple of hours.
And, after all, they only have make the results a little closer to placate the world’s media watchdogs.
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