TEHRAN (SW): Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has won a second term in office, the interior minister announced on Saturday.
Out of more than 40 million votes cast, he received 57%, or close to 23m votes in total. According to the BBC, Rouhani, a moderate who agreed a deal with world powers to limit Iran's nuclear program, will thus avoid a second-round run-off. His main challenger has complained about alleged voting irregularities.
Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative cleric, accused supporters of Rouhani of hundreds of acts of propaganda at voting booths – banned under electoral law.
State TV congratulated Rouhani on his victory. Interior Minister Abdul Reza Rahmani Fazli said Mr Raisi received 38.5%, or 15.7m votes – not enough to take the election to a second round.
According to the Washington Post, with 57 percent of the vote, Rouhani’s win appears to be a resounding endorsement of his project to end Iran’s pariah status and rejoin the global economy. The signature achievement of his first term was negotiating a nuclear deal with world powers, which constrains Iran's nuclear program in exchange for major sanctions relief, it added.
Turnout was more than 70 percent, with around 40 million Iranians casting ballots at polls nationwide, officials said. His challenger, the influential cleric Ebrahim Raisi, secured just 15 million votes — a devastating rebuke of Iran’s conservatives who scoff at the soft power of diplomacy.
ENDS
