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Timeline: 2009 Iran presidential elections

  • Story Highlights
  • President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins ballot with 62.63 percent of the vote
  • Chief rival Mir Hossein Moussavi receives 33.75 percent
  • Supporters of Moussavi dispute results and take to the streets of Tehran
  • Iran's election authority agrees to recount some votes
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(CNN) -- June 12
Presidential elections are held following a campaign that saw huge rallies held in support of both incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and main opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi, suggesting the race would be closely fought.

Incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad casts his vote in Tehran last week.

Incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad casts his vote in Tehran last week.


June 13
Moussavi calls for vote counting to stop, saying there are "blatant violations."

The government says Ahmadinejad won the ballot with 62.63 percent of the vote, while Moussavi received 33.75 percent of the vote.

Following the announcement, angry crowds in Iran's capital break into shops, tear down signs and start fires as they protest the re-election of Ahmadinejad.

June 14
Ahmadinejad gives victory speech, declines to guarantee the safety of Moussavi.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives his blessing to the outcome of the election.

Authorities close Arabic network Al-Arabiya's Tehran bureau for a week without offering a reason.

Protests continue by Moussavi supporters, triggering a counterreaction from supporters of Ahmadinejad, tens of thousands of whom rallied in central Tehran.

Men on motorcycles -- reportedly Ahmadinejad backers -- chase demonstrators and beat them with clubs, metal batons and baseball bats.

June 15
Khamenei agrees to an investigation into the disputed presidential election and asks opposition leader Moussavi to pursue his allegation of ballot fraud through legal means.

Moussavi supporters take to the streets in the largest protest since the 1979 revolution. Moussavi makes his first public appearance since the vote. At least 8 people are reported dead -- one at the end of the protest, the others after allegedly attacking a military post.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi -- a former vice president who backed pro-reform presidential candidate, Mehdi Karrubi -- is arrested.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders urges nations not to recognize the results of the election, citing censorship and a crackdown on journalists.

June 16
Iran's Guardian Council election authority, a body of senior clerics and judges, agrees to recount some votes.

Ahmadinejad leaves for Russia to meet with President Dmitry Medvedev. He is welcomed as the "newly re-elected president of Iran." Ahmadinejad returns to Iran later the same day.

Moussavi rejects the recount, saying it will be misused add more credence to a fraudulent ballot. He calls for fresh elections.

With rival rallies planned by backers of both Moussavi and Ahmadinejad in the center of Tehran, Moussavi urges his supporters to stay away, fearing further violence.

Iran's Ministry of Culture issues a ban on foreign media reporting from the streets of Tehran, meaning international news crews including CNN were not allowed to leave their hotels and offices.

Thousands of people take to the streets in support of both sides in the disputed election.

Iran's all-powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeals to the country's people to stand behind the Islamic republic.

June 17
Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a powerful military force that enforces strict Islamic codes, threatens legal actions against Web sites it says are inciting violence. It also accuses U.S. and Canadian companies, including American intelligence agencies, for financially and technically supporting the Web sites.

Moussavi's supporters take to streets of Tehran in a fifth day of demonstrations, staging what is billed as a "silent protest," with some marchers wearing tape over their mouths. Rally passes without violence.

Rights group Amnesty International says other protests are staged in other cities across Iran.

Iran's national football team wears green arm and wrist bands during a World Cup qualifying match in South Korea, a symbol taken by many to indicate solidarity with Moussavi's supporters.

June 18
Thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Moussavi protest for a sixth consecutive day, many trading their green clothes for black garments in honor of at least eight protesters killed Monday.

Meanwhile, in a televised speech, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims remarks he made on Sunday were taken out of context. After claiming victory in the elections, Ahmadinejad compared the putative losers to fans of a losing soccer team. "I was addressing those who started riots and set up fires and attacked people," he told the state-run news agency IRINN.

Press TV reports that Iran's Intelligence Ministry said it had arrested a number of "main agents" behind vandalism during the daily demonstrations.

June 19
In his first public appearance since the elections, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorses Ahmadinejad's win, insisting the margin of victory -- some 11 million votes -- was too large to have been manipulated.

Khamenei expresses his support for Ahmadinejad and calls for an end to the protests, which he accused foreign powers including Britain, Israel and the United States of helping foment.

He urged critics of the electoral process to seek redress through legal channels and warned that perpetrators of violent unrest would be punished.

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