Raisi takes lead in Iran's presidential election with over 17.8 mln votes

TEHRAN -- Ebrahim Raisi, the principlist presidential hopeful, has a big lead in Iran's presidential election, partial results announced by the Interior Ministry showed on Saturday.

Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Jamal Orf told a press conference that 28.6 million Iranians out of some 59 million eligible voters participated in the election.

With around 90 percent of the votes counted, Raisi, the incumbent Judiciary Chief, has so far garnered over 17.8 million votes in the election, followed by Mohsen Rezaei with 3.3 million.

Talking in a meeting of the national committee fighting the coronavirus, the outgoing president, Hassan Rouhani, praised the participation of the voters and greeted the victory of the winner without naming Raisi.

"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, as quoted by state TV.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, the reformist candidate in the election with 2.4 million votes according to the partial results, was also fast to extend his congratulations to Raisi as the winner of the election.

In a message on his personal Instagram account, Hemmati expressed his 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."

Presidential candidates Mohsen Rezaei and Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi have also extended their congratulations to Raisi.

On May 25, Iran's Interior Ministry announced the names of seven candidates qualified by the country's Constitutional Council to run for the presidential race. Diplomat Saeed Jalili, Alireza Zakani, head of Iranian Parliament Research Center, and Mohsen Mehralizadeh, former Vice President of Iran, later dropped their bid for the position.