Hassan Rouhani defeats Ebrahim Raisi in Iran presidential elections, reports state TV

Tehran: Iran’s state television has declared incumbent President Hassan Rouhani the winner of the country’s presidential election, giving him a second four-year term to see out his agenda calling for greater freedoms and outreach to the wider world. [caption id=“attachment_3460102” align=“alignleft” width=“378”] Female voters queue at a polling station for the presidential election in the city of Qom, Iran. AP [/caption] State TV offered its congratulations in a brief statement Saturday, based on vote tallies, effectively confirming his victory over hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi. The 68-year-old has come to embody more liberal and reform-minded Iranians’ hopes for greater political freedom at home and better relations with the outside world. He had faced stiff competition from hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, 56, who positioned himself as a defender of the poor and called for a much tougher line with the West. With almost all votes counted from the previous day’s election, Rouhani had an insurmountable lead with 22.8 million votes compared to 15.5 million for Raisi out of 38.9 million counted so far. Officials say more than 40 million people voted.