TEHRAN, Iran �� Iranian President Hassan Rouhani won re-election by a comfortable margin over his main arch-conservative challenger, buoyed by high voter turnout, according to official results.
The Iranian Interior Ministry said Rouhani won 56.9 percent of the vote, compared with 38.6 percent for his closest rival, former Attorney General Ebrahim Raisi. Two other candidates also received votes.
Iranian news media reported that 75 percent of eligible voters cast ballots Friday, in line with Iran's typically large voter turnout, which has not fallen below 60 percent for a presidential election in 20 years.
Rouhani, the favorite, was seeking a second four-year term that would demonstrate public support for his economic reform measures and efforts to improve relations with Western countries.
His re-election was a stamp of approval for the 2015 nuclear agreement that Iran signed with six world powers under which Tehran curbed uranium enrichment in exchange for an easing of international economic sanctions.
Rouhani won nearly 23 million votes, a strong improvement over his election victory in 2013, when he won 18.6 million, 50.1 percent in a six-man race.
The election was a victory for moderate and reformist Iranians who have sought an end to their country's international isolation and a relaxation of social restrictions imposed by the conservative mullahs.
"Today is the golden page in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Rouhani's interior minister, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said in televised remarks. "Yesterday, the people of Iran showed the world that we want our system and our religion."
Rouhani's re-election also signaled continuity in Iran's attempts to patch relations with the United States despite the bellicose rhetoric of President Donald Trump who began his first foreign trip Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Iran's Middle East rival.
The Trump administration has said it would take tougher action against Iran for supporting terrorism, and announced a three-month review of U.S. policies on Iran. But the White House has certified that the Islamic Republic is fulfilling the terms of the nuclear agreement, and Iran for now has avoided escalating a confrontation with Trump.
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(Mostaghim is a special correspondent. Bengali reported from Mumbai, India.)
