Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been re-elected for a second four-year term with an unassailable leader, as per results announced by the country’s Interior Ministry on Saturday.
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The Iranian Interior Ministry has declared the almost final results of the Friday presidential election, putting Hassan Rouhani in the lead with 22,796,468 votes so far, state-owned Press TV reported.
President Rouhani’s opposing rival Ebrahim Raeisi garnered 15,452,194 votes, while Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, the other two candidates, have so far received 455,211 and 210,597 votes respectively.
Rouhani has gained 56.88 percent of the votes so far, compared to 38.55 percent for Raeisi. Aqa-Mirsalim and Hashemi-Taba have so far secured 1.13 and 0.52 percent of the votes, respectively.
Iran’s 12th presidential election was held on Friday and voting hours were extended several times due to a high turnout in the polls.
More than 40 million ballots were used in the 12th Presidential election.
Rouhani’s win is likely to have a huge impact on the country’s relations with the West and on the Iran nuclear deal which was achieved after years of tough negotiations.
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The election is seen as a verdict on President Rouhani’s policy of opening up Iran to the world and his efforts to revive the economy.
President Rouhani has sought to frame the election as a choice between greater civil liberties and extremism.