Rouhani leads Iran presidential race, expected to win

President Hassan Rouhani has an unassailable lead in Iran's presidential election, an Iranian official source told Reuters on Saturday, citing an early unofficial tally, and is on course to defeat his hardline rival Ebrahim Raisi.

کد خبر: ۶۹۵۷۴۰

تاریخ: ۳۰ ارديبهشت ۱۳۹۶ - ۰۹:۳۳

"It's over, Rouhani is the winner," the source said on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.

Rouhani had won 21.6 million votes, compared to 14 million for Raisi, with 37 million votes counted, the source added. There were about four million more votes still to be tallied, the source said.

More than 40 million ballots were cast, the interior ministry said, indicating a turnout of about 70 percent in Friday's vote, roughly similar to the showing in 2013 elections when Rouhani swept into office in a landslide victory

State television said the official early results would be announced soon.

The Instagram account of Rouhani ally, former president Mohammad Khatami, showed a picture of Rouhani making a victory sign and ran the slogan "Hope prevailed over isolation".

Rouhani's chief of staff Hamid Aboutalebi tweeted that Rouhani had won 60 percent of the vote. He cited no evidence.

The big turnout appeared to have favored Rouhani, whose backers' main worry has been apathy among reformist-leaning voters disappointed with the slow pace of change.