India has welcomed the election of Hassan Rohani as the Islamic Republic’s president, Press TV reports.
Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, who was on a two-day visit to Iraq, said on Friday that Rohani’s victory is a welcome sign and an outcome of Iranian democracy.
Following Rohani’s victory, the two countries are widely expected to boost their relations even further.
“The Iranian election has been followed [in India] with a lot of interest. The fact that Mr. Rohani has been elected has elicited very favorable comments. And I think those in India who have engaged with Mr. Rohani -- when he was earlier in the cabinet -- have indicated that there are many areas that India and Iran could engage in,” said Chitrapu Uday Bhaskar, an Indian strategic affairs analyst.
On Sunday, Rajnath Singh, the president of India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), congratulated Rohani on his victory, saying, “A moderate and stable Iran is in India's interest.”
Rohani won 50.7 percent of the vote to secure an outright victory in Iran’s June 14 presidential election.
Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to participate in the election. The Interior Ministry put the voter turnout at 72.7 percent.
Rohani currently represents Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in the Supreme National Security Council and is also a member of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts. He is also the director of the Expediency Council's Center for Strategic Research.
By Press TV
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