Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judiciary chief with a brutal human rights record, will be the next president of Iran following his win in an uncompetitive election that most of the country sat out.

Raisi, who has long opposed engagement with the West and is a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sailed to victory in a poll that saw all of his serious rivals barred in the runup to the race.

The 60-year-old won almost 18 million of the nearly 29 million ballots cast, Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli announced Saturday. But many reform-minded Iranians refused to take part in an election widely seen as a foregone conclusion. Overall voter turnout was 48.8% -- the lowest since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Many activists accused Iran's clerical establishment of "selecting" rather than electing the next president in a poll designed to further entrench the power of the country's hardline clerical rulers, despite the public's calls for reforms.

The historically low turnout came despite numerous pleas from Khamenei urging people to vote. On Friday, he warned that low turnout would "increase the pressure of the enemies."

President-elect Raisi will officially take office in 45 days, at which point he will become Iran's eighth president. Until that time, Hassan Rouhani will remain acting president of Iran. Rouhani visited Raisi on Saturdayto offer his congratulations.

The election comes at a pivotal moment for Iran. The next government will have to confront an economic crisis exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and calls for constitutional reform. Tehran is also currently locked in negotiations with the United States about how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

The election of Raisi will further heighten speculation that he is being groomed to one day succeed 81-year-old Khamenei as the Supreme Leader. Under Iran's political system, it is ultimately the Supreme Leader, not the president, who makes the final call on all major matters of state.

Raisi largely campaigned on an anti-graft platform -- an apparent bid to appease voter frustrations with a flailing economy blamed on crippling US sanctions and government corruption.

For most of his career, however, he played a leading role in the prosecution of Iran's political prisoners.(Text, excluding headline courtesy of CNN)

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