On Friday, Iranian state media declared current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of their presidential election. However, his challenger, Mihossein Mousavi is now claiming irregularities and is claiming victory as well.

According to the head of the state election commission, Ahmadinejad was leading Mousavi by 69 percent to 28 percent with just 19 percent of ballots counted.

Attempting to pre-empt any official announcements, Mousavi had earlier called a news conference during which he claimed that there had been irregularities, including a shortage of ballot papers. He declared:

"I am the definite winner of this presidential election."

Mousavi said that many people were not able to cast their ballots, even after voting had been extended by four hours.

At the news conference, Mousavi also said:

"(We) are waiting for the counting of votes to officially end and explanations of these irregularities be given. We expect to celebrate with people soon."

"We hope that authorities in charge do their work in this regard with the wisdom of the supreme leader this issue would end in a good way."

Under Iranian rules, if neither candidate can secure 50 percent of the votes, a run-off will be held on June 19 between the two front-runners.