Ahmadinejad's opponents fell into their own trap, says right-hand man

The opponents of the Iranian government are just a small group of people in the capital and a few smaller cities, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Mojataba Samareh Hashemi, says in an interview with NRC Handelsblad.

Samareh Hashemi is the head of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection committee and his closest adviser. The two men have been friends since childhood, and analysts say Samareh Hashemi has great influence on the president. His office is adjacent to Ahmadinejad's.

According to Samareh Hashemi, it is unthinkable that last week's election result could be undone. "That would be an insult to everybody who voted in this election," he says.

Why are your opponents claiming that there was voter fraud in Iran?

"Apart from Tehran and three or four smaller cities, nobody in the country has a problem with the election result. The people have accepted the outcome of the election and they expected nothing different.

"There are three reasons why some people are casting doubt on the election result. First, our opponents were ignorant about the depth of the people's feelings about the policies of the Ahmadinejad government.

"Secondly, they were only paying attention to Tehran and just assumed that the rest of the country felt the same way as people in the capital. Finally, they fell into the trap of their own propaganda campaign and psychological game."

What do you mean by that?

"From the beginning of the campaign, the opposition candidates said they were going to win, even if several polls - some of them international ones - predicted an Ahmadinejad win. They created high expectations among their followers by practically guaranteeing them an election victory. So when they lost, their followers naturally claimed that there must have been voter fraud. But they had more observers at the polls then us. Until now, they have not been able to provide proof of voter fraud.

They're saying their observers were not allowed to enter the voting stations.

"Our opponents had fewer observers than there were voting stations - in any case less than the 46,000 voting stations throughout the country. Don't forget that, in Iran, the elections are organised by the people. The heads of the voting stations are teachers or other respected local figures. Most of them have been doing this for thirty years. A total of one million people were involved in organising the election, and there are checks and balances at every level. There is no way that voter fraud could have been committed in Iran."

The opposition wants the result annulled. Is there a chance of that happening?

"So we're just going to tell 85 percent of the population that they made a mistake when they voted? That's never going to happen. It would be an insult to everybody who voted in this election."

So the Guardian Council, which now has to make a decision about the election result one way or the other, will never annul the result?

"No, because there is no reason to do so as long as no proof of voter fraud has been provided. Possibly there will be a limited recount at some voting stations, but the difference between the two candidates was so big that I don't think the result will be annulled. But, of course, that is up to the Guardian Council."

Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents American interests in Iran, because it says the US is meddling in Iranian domestic affairs. What kind of consequences do you think this might have?

"That's a mistake they could pay for dearly. The United States will find it very difficult if they want to restore relations with Iran. They talk about extending a hand to Iran, but then they shouldn't be taking steps to destroy Iranian trust."

Thomas Erdbrink is Tehran correspondent for NRC Handelsblad.