Ebrahim Raisi, ultra-conservative judicial chief, wins Iran’s presidential election

(CNN) – Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judicial chief with a brutal human rights record, won a controversial Iranian presidential election, according to preliminary results announced by the Interior Ministry and reported by state media on Saturday.

Raisi, who currently has US sanctions, emerged as the frontrunner after an election watchdog excluded all of his serious rivals from the race. Analysts described voting as the country’s least competitive choice since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

With 90% of the votes counted, voter turnout stood at about 48%, according to election officials. Far fewer voters turned out for this election compared to 2017, which was seen as a foregone conclusion when turnout surpassed 70%.

So far Raisi has garnered more than 17.8 million votes, followed by Mohsen Rezaei, another conservative who garnered 3.3 million votes. The only moderate candidate, Abdolnaser Hemmati, got 2.4 million votes.

President-elect Raisi will officially take office in 45 days, at which point he will become the eighth president of Iran. Until then, Hassan Rouhani will remain president of Iran.

A voter casts his vote at a polling station in Tehran on Friday.