Preliminary Results Show Rouhani Leads Iran Presidential Race

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is on course for a second term in office, according to preliminary results.

    Iran's election headquarters said Rouhani has won 14,619,848 votes of 25,966,729 ballots counted so far. His main rival Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi has secured 10,125,855 votes, Iranian news agency (Fars) reported Saturday.

    Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim has won 297,276 votes ranking 3rd in the race for the Islamic Republic's presidential post so far, while Seyed Mostafa Hashemi-Taba has gathered 139,331 votes. A number of 56,410,000 people were eligible to vote in the elections.

    City and village council elections were held in tandem with the 12th presidential vote on Friday. The elections were held at 63,500 polling stations in Iran and hundreds more in nearly 100 other world countries.

    Voting lasted for 16 hours and polls closed at 24:00 local time after the deadline was extended four times. Ballot counting started at 24:00 midnight and final results will be announced in 24 hours following the election.

Source: QNA