India hopes for establishment of peace in region during Rouhani's presidency

India's Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid felicitated the victory of Hassan Rouhani in Iran's Friday election, and expressed the hope that Iran can establish peace in the region during his presidency. "New Delhi hopes Rouhani would lead Iran under the Supreme Leader's guidance in a direction that would bring peace to the entire region," Khurshid said. He said that the poll outcome is a "good signal" indicating greater convergence and consensus among Iranian people. "He (Rouhani) was elected in the first round which is obviously a good signal. It indicates much greater convergence and consensus amongst people and public opinion," he underlined. "It's an outcome of Iranian democracy. Iranian democracy has evolved over the years," said the minister, who is on a two-day visit to Iraq, which is bordering Iran. Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced Saturday evening that from a total number of 36,704,156 ballots cast in Iran's 11th presidential election on Friday June 14, Rouhani won 18,613,329 votes while his main rival Mohammad Qalibaf could secure only 6,077,292 votes. Hassan Rouhani, born on November 12, 1948, is an Iranian politician and Shiite Jurisprudent. He has been a member of the Assembly of Experts since 1999, member of the Expediency Council since 1991, member of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) since 1989, and head of the Center for Strategic Research since 1992. Rouhani has been also vice-speaker of the 4th and 5th terms of the Iranian Parliament and secretary of the SNSC from 1989 to 2005. Rouhani was the country's top negotiator with the world powers on Iran's nuclear program from 2003 to 2005.