Ebrahim Raisi, the incumbent Chief Justice of Iran, has won the country's presidential election by a landslide, according to preliminary results released on Saturday by the Interior Ministry. He won 62 percent of the vote with about 90 percent of ballots counted from the election, poll officials said.
The candidates who have contested the election have congratulated him for his victory. Meanwhile, outgoing moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who has served the maximum of two consecutive four-year terms, said, "I congratulate the people on their choice. My official congratulations will come later, but we know who got enough votes in this election and who is elected today by the people."
Raisi will take over from Rouhani in August as the country seeks to salvage its tattered nuclear deal with major powers and free itself from the US sanctions that have driven a sharp economic downturn. In the voting held on Friday, 23% i.e. 1.4 crore people had voted till 5 pm. This time, 4 candidates were in the fray in Iran's presidential election. Before the election, the Khamenei-led Guardian Council disqualified hundreds of leaders from contesting elections. These leaders were supporters of current President Hassan Rouhani.
The election saw the lowest turnout after 42 years. It had earlier got 73% voting in the 2017 election. Iran has more than 60 million voters. In 1988, 5 thousand political prisoners were hanged in Iran. It is believed that Raisi had a role in this mass hanging. However, Raisi has refrained from making a statement in the matter.
Ibrahim Raisi: 60 years old (Chief Justice).
Mohsen Rezaee: 66 years old (Former Commander-in-Chief of the Army).
Abdolnaser Hemmati: 64 years old (Former Chief of Central Bank).
Aamir Hussain Hashmi: 50 years old (Deputy Speaker of parliament).