Moderate cleric Rohani to be Iran's next president: minister
Election officials count votes during the Iranian presidential elections in Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran June 15, 2013. REUTERS/Fars News/Seyed Ruhollah Kalantari
DUBAI | Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:56pm EDT
(Reuters) - Moderate cleric Hassan Rohani has won Iran's presidential election, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced on state television on Saturday.
Najjar said 72 percent of the 50 million eligible Iranians had turned out to vote, and that Rohani had secured just over the 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a run-off.
(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati, Marcus George, Zahra Hosseinian and Jon Hemming, Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Election officials open sealed ballot boxes as they prepare to count votes for the Iranian presidential elections in Qom,
120 kilometers south of Tehran June 15, 2013. REUTERS/Fars News/Seyed Ruhollah Kalantari
Voter Zeynab shows the ink stain on her finger, to prove that she has voted, outside the Iranian consulate in central London June 14, 2013.
REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
Election officials count votes during the Iranian presidential elections in Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran June 15, 2013.
REUTERS/Fars News/Seyed Ruhollah Kalantari
Iranian presidential candidate Hassan Rohani (L) waves to supporters in the central Iranian city of Shiraz June 11, 2013. Picture taken June 11, 2013.
REUTERS/Fars News/Mohammad Hadi Khosravi
Voter Zeynab shows the ink stain on her finger, to prove that she has voted, outside the Iranian consulate in central London June 14, 2013. The building was the focus for demonstrators, as it was used as a venue for British based Iranians to cast their vote in their country's election to choose a new president.
A voter stands outside the Iranian consulate in central London June 14, 2013. The building was the focus for demonstrators, as it was used as a venue
for British based Iranians to cast their vote in their country's election to choose a new president. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
An Iranian cleric living in Lebanon fills out his ballot sheet at a polling station at the Iranian embassy in Beirut June 14, 2013. Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be a sham. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
A girl casts her mother's ballot at a polling station at the Iranian embassy in Beirut June 14, 2013. Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be a sham. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Presidential candidate Hassan Rohani casts his ballot during the Iranian presidential election in Tehran June 14, 2013. Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be unfair. REUTERS/Yalda Moayeri
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani votes during the Iranian presidential election in the Jamaran mosque in northern Tehran June 14, 2013.
REUTERS/Fars News/Mehdi Marizad
Presidential candidate Hassan Rohani (2nd L) shows his identity papers after casting his ballot during the Iranian presidential election in Tehran June 14, 2013.
REUTERS/Fars News/Hadi Hirbodvash
Presidential candidate Hassan Rohani shows his ballot before casting it during the Iranian presidential election in Tehran June 14, 2013. Millions of Iranians voted to choose a new president on Friday, urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to turn out in force to discredit suggestions by arch foe the United States that the election would be unfair.
REUTERS/Yalda Moayeri
