Rowhani has 51% of vote in 76% of polling stations

Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani has a clear lead in Iran's presidential election, garnering nearly 51 percent of the vote at 76 percent of polling stations across the country, the interior ministry said Saturday. Rowhani, a former top nuclear negotiator, collected 14.2 million votes out of 27.6 million counted by 5 pm (1230 GMT), the ministry said. If repeated at the remaining polling stations, his 50.8 percent tally would be enough to give him outright victory without recourse to a second-round run-off. Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was in distant second place with 4.37 million votes or 15.6 percent. He was followed by Saeed Jalili, Iran's current top nuclear negotiator, with 11.4 percent and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezai with 11.3 percent. Former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Mohammad Gharazi trailed with less than 10 percent each of the vote. More than 50.5 million Iranians were eligible to vote to elect a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was constitutionally barred from standing again after serving two consecutive terms.