By DPA
Washington : The outcome of Iran’s parliamentary elections are “cooked” because the regime refuses to allow opposition candidates a spot on the ballot, the US State Department said.
“They’re cooked in the sense that the Iranian people weren’t able to vote for a full range of people,” spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.
“Essentially, they’re given the choice of choosing between one supporter of the regime or another supporter of the regime.”
Iranians went to the polls in an election pitting the ruling ultra conservative faction President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against reformists tied to his predecessor, Mohammad Khatami. A third faction led by conservative Ali Larijani was also in the race.
McCormack said the Iranian regime denied equal access to opposition candidates and those who were allowed to participate faced intimidation.
“Regardless of the results of the election and the outcomes of the election, which we shall see, I suspect, in the days ahead, real power in Iran is concentrated in an unelected few,” McCormack said. “And that does not constitute a real, thriving democracy.”