New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he was closely following the dispute over Iran's presidential electoral results, and called for respect of the "genuine will" of the Iranian voters.

Ban told reporters he had taken note of the call by Iran's religious leaders to investigate charges of electoral fraud lodged by opposition groups that questioned the apparent victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following Friday's elections.

"My position and that of the United Nations is that the genuine will of the people should be fully respected," he said. "I am following closely how the investigation into these elections will come out."

Iran's opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi, a reformist, and his supporters took to the streets on Monday to denounce the alleged fraud, claiming that he won the vote to replace Ahmadinejad.(dpa)