President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Iranian nation's massive turnout in the recent presidential elections has challenged Western democracy.

"The recent election in Iran posed a great challenge to the West's democracy," Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

He noted that the presidential election was a referendum in which some 40 million Iranians voted for the principles of the Islamic Republic in Iran.

"The ideals of the Islamic Revolution were the winners of the election," Ahmadinejad added.

He also noted that the results of the election show that 25 million people [who have voted for Ahmadinejad] have approved his way of management of the country.

MGH/SME/RE