The following are excerpts from an interview with reformist candidate for Iranian presidency Mahdi Karrubi, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on June 20, 2005.

Karrubi: I don't know what happened. I do not rule out the possibility that influential forces interfered in counting of the ballots. Until 5 p.m. on the day of the first round of elections, I was the leading candidate, and people were congratulating me Even before the elections, I issued a formal warning to the military and internal security forces not to interfere, and I called upon President Mohammad Khatami to instruct the government bodies not to interfere in the elections. I was told that according to the reports, they did not manage to interfere directly. Nevertheless, I demanded an investigation in some of the ballot boxes. In any case, elections are the cornerstone of the Islamic Republic regime, and the popular participation is the hallmark of this regime, as indicated in the constitution and as promised by the late Imam Khomeini.