Khatami Poised to Be Re-elected by LandslideMohammad Khatami, Iran's incumbent president, is on the way to securing a second term in office as he has so far obtained an overwhelming majority of the votes cast.Khatami has won 79.4 percent of 13.4 million votes tallied so far, according to the latest announcement of the election headquarters Saturday noon. Local reports said the Friday presidential election turnout was as high as 83 percent, which means nearly 36 million out of a total of 42 million eligible voters across the country went to the polls and cast their ballots. Khatami's conservative rival, former Labor Minister Ahmad Tavakoli, was the distant second with about 14 percent of the votes tallied. Ali Shamkhani, the incumbent defense minister, ranked third with 2.5 percent of the votes. Voters began casting their ballots on Friday at 09:00 a.m. (0430 GMT), and the polling was extended by five hours until 24:00 p.m. (1930 GMT) due to a massive turnout. Vote counting started at midnight Friday. On May 16, Iran's elections watchdog, the Guardians Council, gave greenlight to 10 out of more than 800 registered presidential candidates to run in the election. Khatami was among the 10 contenders. Khatami, 57, a mildly-mannered cleric, won the previous election in 1997 by sweeping 70 percent of the ballots cast. Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said earlier that the results of the election might be announced on Saturday. But this probably will not happen until at least Sunday, according to sources here. |
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