Mehdi Karoubi, Iran's reformist candidate in the ninth presidential election, complained on Saturday that he had been rigged out of the June 17 race.

"Something bizarre has been witnessed, and it has been influenced by money," Karoubi told reporters.

He made the remarks shortly after conservative Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad was announced to go to a run-off with former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on June 24.

According to results announced by the Interior Ministry, Ahmadinejad emerged as the second among seven candidates, garnering some 19 percent of the votes cast.

Karoubi was outraced by Ahmadinejad just at the last minute after holding the second position with a slight dominance for almost the whole day.

"I think the election has been rigged. The Interior Ministry and the Guardians Council are both to blame," Karoubi said.

The Interior Ministry and the Guardians Council are the organizer and supervisor of the election.

Ahmadinejad soon rejected the charge, saying people who lost in elections were quite likely to pick up something to complain about.

The Interior Ministry announced on Saturday evening that Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad have garnered 6,159,453 and 5,710,354 votes respectively, which accounted for 21 percent and 19 percent against the total eligible votes of 29,317,420.

Karoubi ranked the third with 5,066,316 votes.

Under Iran's law, if nobody secures at least 50 percent of the votes cast, the top two vote-getters will enter a run-off one week later.

Source: Xinhua