Rohani far ahead in Iran's presidential election so far

Iranian candidate Hassan Rohani flashes the victory sign after signing up 

for the country’s  presidential election, Tehran, May 7, 2013.

Candidate Hassan Rohani is in the lead with a wide margin in the Iranian presidential election, according to the results so far.

Officials at the Election Headquarters of the Iranian Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that 11,686,139 valid ballots - from 12,091,699 total ballots - have been counted at 21,376 polling stations so far (12:10 pm Tehran time). 

Following are the vote totals from the results so far: 

Hassan Rohani: 6,049,655 (50%) 

Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf: 1,844,463 (15%) 

Mohsen Rezaei: 1,518,964 (13%) 

Saeed Jalili: 1,400,712 (12%) 

Ali-Akbar Velayati: 729,044 (6%) 

Mohammad Gharazi: 143,301 (1%) 

On Friday, millions of Iranian voters headed for polling stations to cast their ballots and choose the country’s 11th president as well as their representatives in the city and village councils. 

Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to vote in the June 14 elections. 

If a candidate wins over fifty percent of the vote in the first round of the Iranian presidential election, he will replace incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Otherwise, a run-off will be held in a week’s time to determine a final winner. 

ASH/HJL