President Kovind congratulates Iran's President-elect, says he is confident bilateral relations will grow under his leadership
Jun 20, 2021
New Delhi [India], June 20 : President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday congratulated Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi and said he is confident that bilateral relations between India and Iran will continue to grow under his leadership.
"Felicitations to Ebrahim Raisi on being elected as the next President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am confident our close and warm bilateral relations will continue to grow under your leadership," he tweeted.
On Sunday, the Iranian interior ministry announced that ultraconservative cleric and judiciary chief Raisi has been elected Iran's eighth president.
Raisi will take office in early August, replacing President Hassan Rouhani who was not allowed by the constitution to run for a third consecutive term.
The ministry confirmed on Saturday that Raisi won 61.95 per cent of the vote on a voter turnout of 48.8 per cent - the lowest turnout for a presidential election since the 1979 revolution.
Raisi got 28,933,004 votes, while former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei finished third with 3,412,712 votes and was followed by moderate candidate Abdolnasswer Hemmati with 2,427,201 votes, and conservative Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi with 999,718 votes.
