President Hassan
Rouhani has an unassailable lead in Iran's presidential election, an
Iranian official source told Reuters on Saturday, citing an early
unofficial tally, and is on course to defeat his hardline rival Ebrahim
Raisi.
"It's over, Rouhani is the winner," the source said on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported.
Rouhani
had won 21.6 million votes, compared to 14 million for Raisi, with 37
million votes counted, the source added. There were about four million
more votes still to be tallied, the source said.
More
than 40 million ballots were cast, the interior ministry said,
indicating a turnout of about 70 percent in Friday's vote, roughly
similar to the showing in 2013 elections when Rouhani swept into office
in a landslide victory
State television said the official early results would be announced soon.
The
Instagram account of Rouhani ally, former president Mohammad Khatami,
showed a picture of Rouhani making a victory sign and ran the slogan
"Hope prevailed over isolation".
Rouhani's chief of staff Hamid Aboutalebi tweeted that Rouhani had won 60 percent of the vote. He cited no evidence.
The
big turnout appeared to have favored Rouhani, whose backers' main worry
has been apathy among reformist-leaning voters disappointed with the
slow pace of change.
