Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judiciary chief with a brutal human rights record, won Iran's controversial presidential election as expected, according to preliminary results announced by the interior ministry and reported by state media Saturday.
Analysts described the vote as the country's most uncompetitive election since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Raisi is currently under US sanctions. He has so far garnered more than 17.8 million votes, followed by Mohsen Rezaei, another conservative who secured 3.3 million votes. The sole moderate candidate, Abdolnaser Hemmati, got 2.4 million votes.
Raisi, a close associate of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has played a leading role for decades in the prosecution of political prisoners in Iran.
In 1988, Raisi was part of a four-person "death panel" that allegedly oversaw the mass execution of up to 5,000 political prisoners. His two years as Iran's chief justice were marked by the intensified repression of dissent and human rights abuses.
Iranian online widely ignored the voting and have criticized the whole system for years of brutal and ill-treatment of civil and human rights activists.
According to analysts, the turnout was the lowest ever since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Kurdistan regions in Iran have widely boycotted the election.
