The outcome of the June 12 Iranian presidential election has caused outrage throughout the Muslim country.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who assumed office in 2005, earned more than 60 percent of the votes cast and won the election.

With protests currently underway in Tehran and other major cities in Iran, some believe the election was fixed.

Several Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have expressed doubts regarding the election’s results.

Some news sources have reported that a number of protesters have been arrested. As of yesterday, there have been 20 confirmed deaths regarding the protests.

Assistant professor of political science Tom Stewart said he believes in free speech and freedom of assembly and that the protesters should be allowed to protest.

“If Iran is truly a democracy, that is a big part of democratic values,” he said, referring to the country’s right to protest.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made an extraordinary appeal in response to tensions over the disputed election, which has presented one of the gravest threats to Iran’s complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

“In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said at a meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates. “Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots.”

Stewart said that preliminary polling indicated that Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the independent reformist who Ahmadinejad defeated, was way ahead of his competition.

“(Mousavi) was way ahead,” Stewart said.

Mousavi has called the election an “astonishing charade,” demanding it be canceled and held again.

Stewart said the majority of the country’s progressive votes came from the city, while most the conservative votes came from the countryside. He said Iran should hold a reelection.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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