Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - February 24, 2000 - Ali Larijani said over the phone that the Ministry of Interior is manipulating the vote counting and announcement process

Meeting, consultation, and analysis with Sheikh Masih Mohajeri

Meeting with student Basij publications and speech by General Seyed Mohammad Hossein Zadeh Hejazi

Report from Mohammad Hassan Tolayi, head of the Tehran Province Election Monitoring Committee, on the discrepancies in vote counting with the Ministry of Interior

Masih Mohajeri: Your patience in facing irrational electoral behaviors has greatly benefited you / Ali Larijani said over the phone that the Ministry of Interior is manipulating the vote counting and announcement process.

Mr. Masih Mohajeri, [Editor-in-Chief of the Jomhouri-e Eslami newspaper], came. We discussed the press, violations, and solutions. He said the unreasonable behavior exhibited during the election campaigns toward you has increased sympathy and support among religious and revolutionary forces inside the country, creating an exceptional situation.

Overall, your patience has been highly beneficial, and at the same time, criticisms of the leadership have emerged in cases where they have been lenient or resolved their issues, such as the wave of student clerics' sit-ins in Qom and other examples. He mentioned some of the phone calls and remarks he had heard.

Several officials from the student Basij publications across universities attended the closing ceremony of a festival. General [Seyed Mohammad] Hejazi, [Commander of the Basij Resistance Force], reported that 340 publications are being circulated nationwide, with a total circulation of 65,000 copies.

Prizes were awarded to selected publications, and I spoke to them to strengthen their morale and raise awareness of potential dangers. It was a very enthusiastic gathering, similar to what Mr. Mohajeri had mentioned. Mr. Hejazi stated that in all the military bases, you received the highest number of votes.

Mr. [Mohammad Hassan] Tolayi, [Head of the Election Monitoring Committee of Tehran Province], came with Mohsen, [Head of the Office of the Expediency Discernment Council]. He provided explanations about the vote-counting process and the disagreement they had with the Ministry of Interior.

Mr. [Ali] Larijani, [Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting], called and said that the Ministry of Interior was manipulating the vote counting and announcement process. I told Mr. Tolayi to monitor the situation closely. It has been decided that several ballot boxes under dispute between both parties will be recounted. Mr. Tolayi said that his wife and mother cried because of the low number of votes you received.

Today, the U.S. Senate passed a bill with 98 votes in favor and none against, requiring the government to impose sanctions on countries that help Iran build weapons of mass destruction (including missiles); they primarily have Russia in mind.

Regarding the inconsistency of this legislation with the recent election results in Iran's parliament, they responded that the hope of aligning Iran with the U.S. after the elections exists, but such thoughts are only among certain intellectuals, not the real rulers of Iran.