Iranian
presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani raises his identity card before
casting his vote in Tehran. Photograph: Xinhua Press/Corbis
The moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani has won the Iranian election and will succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, Iran's interior minister announced on national television on Saturday.
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Rouhani had secured just over the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, after a turnout of 72%.
Rouhani's win is a welcome surprise for many
reformists, who are desperate to break back into mainstream Iranian politics after eight years of Ahmadinejad's hardline presidency.
Although the only cleric among the eight candidates allowed to stand for election, the 65-year-old is seen as a pro-reform moderate figure. He has positioned himself as a moderate figure favouring political openness and improved relations with the west.
He has pledged to find a way out of the stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme that led the west to impose tough sanctions. "It is good to have centrifuges running, provided people's lives and livelihoods are also running," Rouhani said during a TV debate.
Rouhani served as the chief nuclear negotiator under the former president Mohammad Khatami. Under his watch, Iran agreed to halt uranium enrichment and was more co-operative with the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Organisation.
As early results were announced, some analysts interpreted the likely defeat of Saeed Jalili, Iran's current hardline chief nuclear negotiator, as a vote of no confidence in the current regime's nuclear policy. During the campaign, Rouhani repeatedly noted that on his watch Iran's nuclear dossier was not referred to the UN security council and no major sanctions were imposed.
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Rouhani's deputy in Iran's national security council between 1997 to 2005, and a spokesperson for Iran's nuclear negotiating team, said the early results showed that people in Iran were desperate for a change in the country's foreign and economic policies.
Earlier on Saturday, Britain's former foreign secretary Jack Straw described Rouhani as an experienced diplomat, "warm and engaging" and "a strong Iranian patriot".
"This is a remarkable and welcome result so far and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no jiggery-pokery with the final result," he said. "What this huge vote of confidence in Dr Rouhani appears to show is a hunger by the Iranian people to break away from the arid and self-defeating approach of the past and for more constructive relations with the west.
"On a personal level I found him warm and engaging. He is a strong Iranian patriot and he was tough, but fair to deal with and always on top of his brief."
Trita Parsi, of the National Iranian American Council, said: "Though hardliners remain in control of key aspects of Iran's political system, the centrists and reformists have proven that even when the cards are stacked against them, they can still prevail due to their support among the population."
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian politics lecturer at Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, Israel, described the early results as a "total and absolute surprise".
"If Rouhani wins in the first round, it'd be a clear sign that after the 2009 uprising, the supreme leader has learned that his regime needs to regain its legitimacy, and that will only come from counting the vote of the people."
In 2009, when Ahmadinejad won his second term, the opposition Green movement claimed victory and said the result had been rigged. Its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, remains under house arrest. Analysts believe that rigging is less likely this year because Ahmadinejad is not running and the government has not endorsed any of the candidates.
Iran's rial recovered its value against the dollar by more 6% as results were announced in Rouhani's favour.
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Rouhani had secured just over the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, after a turnout of 72%.
Rouhani's win is a welcome surprise for many
reformists, who are desperate to break back into mainstream Iranian politics after eight years of Ahmadinejad's hardline presidency.
Although the only cleric among the eight candidates allowed to stand for election, the 65-year-old is seen as a pro-reform moderate figure. He has positioned himself as a moderate figure favouring political openness and improved relations with the west.
He has pledged to find a way out of the stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme that led the west to impose tough sanctions. "It is good to have centrifuges running, provided people's lives and livelihoods are also running," Rouhani said during a TV debate.
Rouhani served as the chief nuclear negotiator under the former president Mohammad Khatami. Under his watch, Iran agreed to halt uranium enrichment and was more co-operative with the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Organisation.
As early results were announced, some analysts interpreted the likely defeat of Saeed Jalili, Iran's current hardline chief nuclear negotiator, as a vote of no confidence in the current regime's nuclear policy. During the campaign, Rouhani repeatedly noted that on his watch Iran's nuclear dossier was not referred to the UN security council and no major sanctions were imposed.
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Rouhani's deputy in Iran's national security council between 1997 to 2005, and a spokesperson for Iran's nuclear negotiating team, said the early results showed that people in Iran were desperate for a change in the country's foreign and economic policies.
Earlier on Saturday, Britain's former foreign secretary Jack Straw described Rouhani as an experienced diplomat, "warm and engaging" and "a strong Iranian patriot".
"This is a remarkable and welcome result so far and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no jiggery-pokery with the final result," he said. "What this huge vote of confidence in Dr Rouhani appears to show is a hunger by the Iranian people to break away from the arid and self-defeating approach of the past and for more constructive relations with the west.
"On a personal level I found him warm and engaging. He is a strong Iranian patriot and he was tough, but fair to deal with and always on top of his brief."
Trita Parsi, of the National Iranian American Council, said: "Though hardliners remain in control of key aspects of Iran's political system, the centrists and reformists have proven that even when the cards are stacked against them, they can still prevail due to their support among the population."
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian politics lecturer at Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, Israel, described the early results as a "total and absolute surprise".
"If Rouhani wins in the first round, it'd be a clear sign that after the 2009 uprising, the supreme leader has learned that his regime needs to regain its legitimacy, and that will only come from counting the vote of the people."
In 2009, when Ahmadinejad won his second term, the opposition Green movement claimed victory and said the result had been rigged. Its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, remains under house arrest. Analysts believe that rigging is less likely this year because Ahmadinejad is not running and the government has not endorsed any of the candidates.
Iran's rial recovered its value against the dollar by more 6% as results were announced in Rouhani's favour.
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