IRAN: Raeisis to romp home victorious in presidential vote

By: Ollus Ndomu

The top conservative candidate, Ebrahim Raeisi, is set to become Iran’s next president after amassing an estimate of 17 million votes in Friday’s presidential election.

Out of the 29 million votes cast in yesterday’s poll, Raeisi, the country’s judiciary Chief got 58.6% votes followed by Mohsen Rezaei with 10% as other candidates share the rest of the votes, a preminary vote count confirms.

In their separate Saturday morning statements, presidential candidates Rezaei, Hemmati and Qazizadeh have congratulated Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi for emerging victorious in the June 18 presidential elections.

Outgoing President Hassan Rouhani has also congratulated the president-elect without mentioning his name.

In his latest Twitter posting, Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has hailed Iranians for their massive participation in the Friday vote which he described as “epic participation.”

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry is yet to release a report on the presidential election and how 29 presidential candidates shared the cast votes.