TEHRAN, May 20 (Xinhua) — Iran’s incumbent President Hassan Rouhani won the country’s presidential election, Iran’s Interior Minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, announced here on Saturday.
Out of 41,220,131 counted votes, which accounts for 99.7 percent of the total votes cast on Friday election, Rouhani secured 23,549,616 votes or 57 percent of the ballots, Rahmani Fazli said.
His nearest challenger Ebrahim Raisi got 15,786,449 votes, amounting to 38.5 percent of the ballots, he said.
According to the law, the candidates have three days to file their complaints about the results of the election with Iran’s Guardian Council of Constitution, Fazli added.
The council, as the high legislative body of the country, will ultimately confirm the results of Iran’s presidential election.
On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thanked the nation for “mass turnout” in the election on Friday.
Some 56 million Iranians were eligible for voting, and over 60,000 ballot boxes had been prepared nationwide to receive the votes.
On April 21, out of 1,636 registered candidates, six qualified to compete for the four-year presidential term, including three principalists, better known as conservatives, as well as two centrists and one reformist.
Later, Iran’s reformist Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri announced his withdrawal from the race in order to back Rouhani, and Tehran’s Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a conservative candidate, withdrew from the presidential race to back Ebrahim Raisi.
Two other hopefuls, namely, Mostafa Agha-Mirsalim and Mostafa Hashemi Taba, were also vying for the Iranian presidency alongside Rouhani and Raisi as the main rivals in the race.
On Saturday, Mostafa Agha-Mirsalim and Mostafa Hashemi Taba congratulated Rouhani on the win.
Agha-Mirsalim won 478,215 of the total votes and Hashemi Taba got 215,450.
(Photo: ATTA KENARE/AFP/)
