-- Iranian officials have declared President Hassan Rohani winner of the May 19 vote with around 57 percent of ballots, easily avoiding a runoff against conservative former prosecutor Ebrahim Raisi, who was said to have received about 38.5 percent of votes cast.
-- In a victory speech, Rohani said the Iranian people were the "real victors" of the election and that Iran had chosen "engagement with the world" in voting for him, rejecting extremism. But as Rohani knows very well, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds ultimate political, military, and religious power in Iran, and can easily derail a campaign or thwart the plans of a president.
-- Six men were approved to run by the Guardians Council from more than 1,600 applicants, but it quickly boiled down to a two-man race between Raisi and Rohani, an establishment veteran who oversaw a breakthrough nuclear deal with world powers to ease sanctions and pushed for engagement with the West and greater openness for Iranians.
-- Raisi has long been talked about as a possible successor to Khamenei, and it's unclear what effect a landslide loss might have on his political ambitions.
*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Tehran (GMT +4 1/2)
Iran's eminent poet, Houshang Ebtehaj, also voted today:
Iranian double-Oscar winning film director Asghar Farhadi voted in Cannes. Farhadi has endorsed Hassan Rohani.
Iranian voters in Paris.
Another essay on the Iranian election by Ali Vaez, a senior Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
