Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raeisi elected Iran’s president

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran's ultra-conservative judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raeisi, was declared winner of Friday’s presidential election, which saw the lowest turnout in the country’s history.

Raeisi garnered 17.92 million votes in Friday’s polls, defeating his three rivals in a landslide victory, Interior Minister Rehman Fazli announced on Saturday.

Former IRGC chief Mohsen Rezai came second with 3.4 million votes, followed by former top banker Abdol-Nasser Hemmati with 2.4 million and former deputy parliament speaker Ghazizadeh Hashemi with around 1 million votes.

Earlier in the day, the preliminary vote count showed Raeisi leading with 17.8 million, followed by Rezaei with 3.3 million, Hemmati with 2.4 million and Hashemi with 1 million votes.

Voter turnout, according to the Interior Ministry, was 48.8 percent, beating the previous record.

Previously, the lowest turnout in Iran's post-1979 revolution presidential elections was recorded in 1993 — 50.6 percent — when Hashemi Rafsanjani defeated his conservative rival Ahmed Tavakkoli.