TEHRAN: 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.
Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Orf said 28.6 million Iranians participated in Friday's election, and with around 90 percent of the votes counted, Raisi garnered over 17.8 million votes, reports by Press TV.
In the second place was Mohsen Rezaei, a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and current secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, with 3.3 million ballots. Meanwhile, former Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Nasser Hemmati garnered 2.4 million votes, and conservative MP Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi won almost one million votes, the Ministry figures revealed. Orf added that vote counting was still ongoing an official announcement will be made later.
Addressing a meeting of the national committee fighting the coronavirus, outgoing President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday praised the participation of the voters and welcomed the winner without naming Raisi, reports Xinhua news agency.
"Although I will delay the official congratulations in conformity with the law, the people's choice is already clear and he will take over the government in 45 days," Rouhani said.
In a message on his personal Instagram account, Hemmati expressed hope that the new leader "will make the Islamic Republic of Iran proud, and also improve the livelihood and prosperity, and provide welfare for the great nation of Iran".
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