Congratulations came from inside and outside Iran, on the victory of conservative candidate Ibrahim Raisi in the presidential elections that took place yesterday, Friday, according to the preliminary, non-final official results.

While the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador in connection with what it described as the harassment of Iranian voters by the Iranian opposition in London and Birmingham, the Iranian Ministry of Interior announced that no security incidents were recorded during the elections in the country.

And the Supreme Elections Committee in Iran announced this morning, Saturday, that Ibrahim Raisi came first in the presidential elections by obtaining 62% of the votes, which is still being counted until noon today, pending its completion to announce the final results.

In a press conference today, Saturday, the head of the Supreme Elections Committee, Jamal Aref, said that Raisi had obtained, according to preliminary results, 17 million and 800,000 votes out of the 28 million who participated in the voting.

While candidate Mohsen Rezaei received 3 million and 300 thousand votes.

As for the moderate candidate, Abdel Nasser Hemmati, he received two million and 400 thousand votes, in exchange for Qazizadeh Hashemi receiving one million votes, according to what the committee announced.

The committee indicated that more than 28 million Iranians participated in the presidential elections out of 59 million eligible to vote.

victory for the people

In his first comment on the preliminary results of the elections, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei considered the presidential elections that took place yesterday, Friday, "a victory for the Iranian people in the face of enemy propaganda."

Khamenei added in a tweet that the victor in the elections is the people who once again thwarted what he described as malicious conspiracies and media war waged by the enemy.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei considered the success of the country's elections a victory over the enemy (Anatolia Agency)

In turn, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran reported that the outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited presidential candidate Ibrahim Raisi in his office in the judiciary to congratulate him on his victory, according to the preliminary results of the elections.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that it must be recognized that Ebrahim Raisi has become president of all Iranians after receiving 20 million votes, and that he must work with him regardless of the agreement or disagreement with him.

Commenting on the preliminary results of the elections, Zarif said that everyone should work with Raisi from now on, as he is the elected president.

In his remarks, Zarif described Raisi as a "rational man" who would lead the country well.

Russia and Iraq

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Ibrahim Raisi on his victory in the presidential elections that took place in Iran on Friday.

The press attache at the Russian Embassy in Tehran, Maxim Soslov, confirmed to "Novosti" news agency that the congratulatory message from Putin had been delivered to Raisi, noting that the Russian president expressed his hope for further development in cooperation between Russia and Iran.

For his part, Iraqi President Barham Salih congratulated Raisi on his victory in the elections and said he is looking forward to consolidating relations with Iran.

In his congratulations, Saleh stressed that the region is in dire need of wisdom and to give priority to the language of dialogue by establishing security and respect for sovereignty.

Raisi had been congratulated by all his rivals on his victory, before the official announcement of the semi-final results by the Election Commission.

In turn, the conservative Iranian newspapers issued today praised what they described as the popular participation in the elections and the failure of the boycott calls.

harassment in Britain

In a related context, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to it against the background of what it described as Iranian voters being harassed by the Iranian opposition in London and Birmingham.

The Foreign Office added today, Saturday, that the British authorities were unable to provide security for voters who wanted to vote in the Iranian presidential elections that took place on Friday.

On the other hand, the security assistant in the Iranian Ministry of Interior, Hussein Zulfiqari, said that his country did not witness any security incidents during the elections.

The Iranian Ministry of Interior announced that 600,000 security personnel contributed to securing the presidential elections (Reuters)

Zulfiqari added that 600,000 security personnel participated in the security plan to ensure the security of the elections.

On the other hand, one person was killed and 11 others were injured, today, Saturday, when a helicopter carrying a ballot box for elections crashed in Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran.

The governor of Khuzestan, Qassem Soleimani Dashtaki, said that the plane crashed while transporting a ballot box for the elections from the rugged Ahmad Fadalah district to the city of Dezful in Khuzestan, according to the Iranian Fars news agency.

AI

For its part, Amnesty International said that the Iranian presidential candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, should be investigated for crimes against humanity, as it put it.

The organization added that Raisi is accused of involvement in the crimes of murder, enforced disappearance and torture against thousands of Iranians.

It is noteworthy that the winning candidate is one of the senior officials covered by US sanctions, the head of the country's judiciary, and is believed to have the support of the Revolutionary Guards, and he lost the elections to Rouhani in 2017.

Who is my boss?

Agence France-Presse said that Raisi's victory would strengthen the conservative movement's grip on the joint government bodies in the republic, after its broad victory in the Shura Council elections last year.

Raisi, born in 1960 in the city of Mashhad, is a religious and conservative politician.

He joined the judiciary in 1980 and worked as a public prosecutor until 1994.

In the same year, he was appointed head of the General Inspection Authority, and in 2004 he held the position of First Deputy of the Judicial Authority, which lasted for 10 years, and the Supreme Leader appointed him as Head of the Judiciary in 2019.

Raisi joined the Assembly of Experts in 2006, and then was appointed in 2017 as a member of the Expediency Council by a decree from Khamenei, and in the 2017 presidential elections he ranked second after Rouhani.

The 2021 elections came in light of an economic and social crisis caused mainly by US sanctions, and exacerbated by the Corona pandemic.