SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States said on Monday it views the process that made Ebrahim Raisi Iran’s president-elect as “pretty manufactured”.
“Our Iran policy is designed to advance U.S. interests and that is regardless of who is chosen as Iran’s president in a … process that we consider to be pretty manufactured,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Ned Price told reporters in a telephone briefing.
“This was not a free and fair election process,” Price said.
Millions of Iranians voted on Friday in a contest that was expected to hand the presidency to Raisi, a 60-year-old Shia cleric who is subject to U.S. sanctions for alleged human rights abuses.
With all 28.9 million ballots counted, Raisi was elected with a tally of 17.9 million, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on state TV on Saturday. Raisi will take office in early August, replacing pragmatist Hassan Rouhani.
Turnout in Friday’s four-man race was a record low of around 48%.
