Ultra-conservative judge Ebrahim Raisi, 60, Iranian justice chief, won the presidential election with 62.2% of the vote, according to partial results released on Saturday (19). He thus becomes Hasan Rowhani’s successor without a second round being necessary, as recognized by his opponents in the election and Iranian Chancellor Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Raisi, according to the chairman of the National Election Commission, Jamal Orf, at a press conference in Tehran, obtained more than 17.8 million votes out of a total of 28.6 million already counted.
The electoral authority did not disclose the turnout in the election, but unofficial calculations indicate that it was 53%, well below the 73% recorded in 2017. In total, there are more than 59.3 million Iranians over the age of 18 eligible to vote. .
According to partial data, General Mohsen Rezai, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and also ultra-conservative, was in second place, with 11.5% of the vote, ahead of former Central Bank chairman Abdolnaser Hemmati (8, 3%) and parliamentarian Amir Hossein Hashemi. (3.4%).
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated Raisi’s victory as a triumph for the country against “enemy propaganda”. “The big winner of yesterday’s elections [sexta, 18] it is the nation, because it has risen again in the face of the enemy’s mercenary media propaganda, ”he said, referring to the United States.
Shortly before the first results were announced, which showed around 14% of the vote blank or void, Rowhani, the current president, said there was a winning candidate in the first round, but he didn’t. not named. “I congratulate people on their choice […] We know who got enough votes in this election and who got elected today [sábado] by the people, “he said in a speech broadcast on television.
In messages on social networks or broadcast on Iranian media, the three opponents of Raisi salute the victory of the ultra-conservative judge.
Voting has been significantly extended, until 2 a.m. on Saturday local time, to allow for greater turnout, given the coronavirus pandemic, which has officially claimed 82,746 lives, according to data from Johns University Hopkins, out of a population of 83 million. citizens.
Raisi has a repressive past in his career in the judiciary. In the 1980s, during the phase of persecution and murder that followed the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the then judge allegedly authorized numerous murders and tortures, according to complaints from dissidents.
Externally, the prospect of a return to power from the hard line automatically puts on alert for an even more confrontational relationship with the West, this at a time of a potential opening with the United States, due to the election of Joe Biden, according to the reading of Western politicians and analysts.
On the other hand, others are of the opinion that Iran, even under Raisi, will adopt a pragmatic and negotiating foreign policy, albeit out of necessity. Indeed, the country seeks to end the sanctions to overcome the economic difficulties.