Official preliminary results show that Iran's incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is leading the polls with 69.04 percent of the ballots that have so far been counted.

In a surprise press briefing, Iran's Election Commission Chief, Kamran Daneshjoo, announced that 19.42 percent of the votes were counted until 23:54 local time (20:24 GMT).

According to Daneshjoo, Ahmadinejad is leading in the polls, followed by Mir-Hossein Mousavi who has 28.42 percent of the votes.

Preliminary results show that Mohsen Rezaei has won 1.62 percent of the votes and Mehdi Karroubi has grabbed 0.9 percent.

According to Press TV's correspondent at the Election Commission Headquarters, Gissoo Ahmadi, more than 32 million people have cast their ballot in the election that saw a massive turnout on Friday June 12.

Our correspondent added that the briefing was unexpected and that the reporters were surprised by the announcement, which was not due until dawn.

The press briefing came after Mousavi claimed victory with 54 percent of the vote in a separate news conference.

RZS/SME/MMN