Hassan Rouhani’s re-election as Iran’s president is official

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. May 20, 2017, 1:36 PM (IDT)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, 68, was officially declared the winner of Friday’s presidential election with a landslide victory of 57 percent against his rival, Ebrahim Raisi, cleric and protégée of the hardliners. Turnout was more than 70 percent. Rouhani campaigned on mending Iran’s ties with the West and greater freedoms inside Iran. However, the ultimate power for change still resides with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s economic and military mammoth, the Revolutionary Guards.
 

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