Middle East News

Venezuela's Chavez praises Ahmadinejad's "great victory"

Jun 14, 2009, 21:08 GMT

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday praised the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran as a 'great victory' and condemned nay-sayers who have raised questions about the legitimacy of Friday's election results.

Chavez, who hailed Ahmadinejad as a colleague and close ally, said such critics are 'spokesmen for imperialism.' He congratulated Ahmadinejad personally on the phone on Saturday and the two leaders agreed to meet in the near future.

'It has been a great victory' but it was being 'besmirched' by such critics, Chavzez charged.

Iran's Interior Ministry said that Ahmadinejad had won Friday's election with more than 62 per cent of the votes.

His main opponent, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, who drew huge crowds and was expected to win according to pre-election polls, has cried foul and charged election fraud. Thousands of opponents of Ahmadinejad have taken to the streets on Saturday and Sunday to protest the official results.