2017 Iranian Presidential Election May 19,2017 - Hassan Rouhani wins Iran's presidential election

Iran's reformist President Hassan Rouhani has decisively won the country's presidential election ,according to official results, fending off a challenge by principlist rival Ebrahim Raisi. 

With all of votes in Friday's poll counted, Rouhani was re-elected with 57 percent, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmanifazli said on Saturday May 20,2017

"Of some 41.2 million total votes cast, Rouhani got 23.5 ... and won the election," Rahmanifazli said in remarks carried live by state TV

Raisi, Rouhani's closest rival, got 15.8 million votes, he added.

A big turnout on Friday May 19,2017 led to the vote being extended by several hours to deal with long queues.

Who is Hassan Rouhani?

Born in 1948 in Sorkheh in northern Iran and began studying religion at an early age Began political career in 1960s by following the exiled leader of the Islamic movement Ayatollah Khomeini  Fled Iran in 1977 after publicly declaring Khomeini an "imam"  Returned to Iran after the 1979 revolution and served as the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005 Earned the nickname the "diplomatic sheikh" owing to his clerical background and role as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 Sworn in as president on August 4, 2013 During his term, Iran reached a landmark deal in 2015 to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief