Ultraconservative Raisi elected Iran president as rivals concede

Congratulations poured in for ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi on June 19 on winning Iran's presidential election as his rivals conceded even before official results were announced.

Raisi won 62 percent of the  votes counted so far, officials said.

Raisi won more than 17.8 million votes out of 28.6 million ballots counted, far ahead of the second-placed candidate Mohsen Rezai, who won 3.3 million votes, election office chairman Jamal Orf said on state television after Friday's vote.

The other three candidates in the race all congratulated him for his victory, which had been widely expected after a host of heavyweight rivals had been barred from running.

"I congratulate the people on their choice," said outgoing moderate President Hassan Rouhani without naming Raisi. "My official congratulations will come later, but we know who got enough votes in this election and who is elected today by the people."

The other two ultraconservative candidates - Mohsen Rezai and Amirhossein Qazizadeh Hashemi - explicitly congratulated Raisi, as did the only reformist in the race, former central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati.

Raisi, 60, takes over from Rouhani in August as Iran seeks to salvage its tattered nuclear deal with major powers and free itself from punishing US sanctions that have driven a sharp economic downturn.

Raisi, the head of the judiciary whose black turban signifies direct descent from Islam's Prophet Mohammed, is seen as close to the 81-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate political power in Iran.

Friday's voting was extended by two hours past the original midnight deadline amid fears of a low turnout of 50 percent or less.

The ballots were counted overnight, and...