Rohani takes early lead in Iran’s presidential election, Qalibaf in 2nd

Hassan Rohani is in the lead in the Iranian presidential election, according to early results, and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is in second place.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced early on Saturday that 826,649 valid ballots —- out of a total of 861,866 votes cast — have been counted at 1,631 polling stations so far.

Following are the vote totals from the early results:

Hassan Rohani: 401,949

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf: 126,896

Saeed Jalili: 119,294

Mohsen Rezaei: 109,089

Ali Akbar Velayati: 55,990

Mohammad Gharazi: 13,431

On Friday, millions of Iranian voters headed for polling stations to cast their ballots and choose the country’s 11th president as well as their representatives in the city and village councils.

Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to vote in the June 14 elections.