Iran’s President Rouhani Leads in Bid for Re-Election
The incumbent looks set to win a second term, with about 22.8 million of the roughly 39 million valid ballots counted so far
TEHRAN, Iran—Partial polling results showed Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani all but assured of beating his hard-line challenger by a comfortable margin and winning a second term Saturday, endorsing a leader who seeks better ties to the West.
The results were the first official indication of how Iranians voted on Friday. The pivotal election pitted moderate Mr. Rouhani against cleric Ebrahim Raisi, a figure who only recently emerged on the country’s political scene and is a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mr. Rouhani was leading the race with about 22.8 million of the roughly 39 million valid ballots counted so far, an election official said on state television, while Mr. Raisi had about 15.5 million. While the result isn’t final, Mr. Rouhani’s lead looked insurmountable with turnout topping 40 million.
Polling results have shown Mr. Rouhani, 68, consistently in the lead, and a poll conducted Wednesday by the Washington-based International Perspectives for Public Opinion gave him 63% of the ballots among likely voters, based on a survey of about 1,200 Iranians.
Iran’s president is limited by the power the supreme leader wields as the final decision maker in most state matters. Presidents nonetheless play a meaningful role in domestic and foreign-policy choices, putting into action plans approved by the leader.
Before the results announcement, the Interior Ministry said turnout was high—above 40 million out of Iran’s 56.4 million eligible voters, or roughly 71%.
Strong turnout has appeared to benefit moderate and reformist politicians in past elections.
Turnout was about 73% when Mr. Rouhani won his first term in 2013, compared with some 60% when his predecessor, hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won his first term in 2005.
Friday’s vote presented Iranians with a stark choice, between continuing on Mr. Rouhani’s path of opening up to the world while allowing more space for freedom of expression at home, and Mr. Raisi’s more inward-looking, conservative outlook.
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The landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal was the signature achievement of Mr. Rouhani’s first term. Agreed between Iran and six world powers including the U.S., it lifted sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for new curbs on its disputed nuclear program.
The deal brought Iran out of isolation after years of crippling sanctions. Yet it posed a challenge for Mr. Rouhani in the months leading up to the election, as average Iranians said it hadn’t led to improved living standards.
His favorability slid since the deal, giving way to concern among supporters that engineering one of the most significant feats of diplomacy since the country’s founding 38 years ago wouldn’t be enough to win him a second term.
Mr. Raisi, a cleric who served for decades in Iran’s opaque judiciary, sought to capitalize on Mr. Rouhani’s vulnerabilities. Hard-liners coalesced around Mr. Raisi, 56, who has seen a rapid rise to prominence in the past year.
The supreme leader last year appointed Mr. Raisi to oversee the Astan Quds Razavi, a charity worth billions of dollars central to his business interests, which observers saw as an indication that he could be tapped as his successor.
Mr. Raisi promised to triple monthly cash handouts to the poor, offering people the kind of direct boost to their pocketbooks that Mr. Rouhani’s diplomacy couldn’t deliver.
In making his appeal to a base of mainly poor and religious Iranians, Mr. Raisi borrowed from the playbook of Mr. Ahmadinejad, the hard-line president who preceded Mr. Rouhani. Several prominent members of his campaign management are close associates of Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Yet many Iranians still remember the severe economic dislocations that accompanied the latter portion of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s eight years in office, including skyrocketing inflation and a major fall in their currency’s value.
As they voted Friday, some Iranians also said they feared Mr. Raisi would place cloying new limits on society and culture, and could adopt a confrontational posture toward the U.S. and other enemies.
“We’re scared a lot about the future,” Pedram Yazdani, 21, a first-time voter, said at a polling station in central Tehran. “You know, the president of America is Mr. Trump. I think if Mr. Raisi became president, we might see the third world war.”