70% Votes By Iranians Residing Abroad, Counted : Official

Tehran, June 15, IRNA – Head of the Elections headquarters for Foreign Countries Kazem Sajjadi said 70 percent of the votes cast by the Iranians residing abroad for the 11th presidential elections were counted. Talking to IRNA on Saturday, he said that election is still going on in Americas. He noted that the results of vote counting in Asia and Pacific countries as well as part of Europe have already been announced by the Interior Ministry which is in charge of the elections process. The official termed the turnout of the Iranians living abroad in the presidential elections as “higher” compared to the previous ones and said Iranian nationals in foreign countries displayed an enthusiastic and active participation in elections. Presidential elections are the only polling incident in which Iranians living in foreign countries are eligible to vote. The 11th presidential elections were held in 96 foreign countries and in 128 polling stations which accommodated 290 balloting boxes. The Iranian Foreign Ministry devised 25 polling stations across the US in addition to those in New York and Washington, three in Australia and one in London. Iranians on pilgrimage trips to Iraq and Saudi Arabia were also able to vote in the stations installed in the holy cities. The 11th presidential and 4th city and urban council elections were held in some 60,000 polling stations nationwide Friday. Some 51 million Iranians were eligible to vote in the presidential election. The six candidates running in the presidential election were President of the Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic Research Hassan Rohani, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former telecommunications minister Mohammad Gharazi. Former Majlis speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel and former First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref withdrew their candidacies. The latest results of Iranˈs presidential election vote counting Saturday morning showed that Hassan Rohani is widely ahead of his rivals with 3,219,322 votes./end