Iran’s interior minister said at a press conference on Saturday that moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani has won Iran’s presidential election, according to the Associated Press.
Rowhani secured just more than 50 percent of the vote, avoiding a two-person runoff.
Rowhani was seen as the “reformist” and “moderate” candidate in the election, and a flurry of late support appears to have vaulted him over the top of the conservative and hardline candidates that dominated the field.
Rowhani served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, resigning after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 when hardliners slammed his nuclear negotiating stances as “conciliatory.”
During his campaign, Rowhani vowed to engage in “constructive interaction with the world” on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“We won’t let the past eight years be continued,” Rowhani said last week. “They brought sanctions for the country. Yet, they are proud of it. I’ll pursue a policy of reconciliation and peace. We will also reconcile with the world.”
