First clergyman swept in as Iran's new President

October 5, 1981

Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei, leader of Iran's ruling Islamic Republican Party, won the presidential election with a record 96 percent of the votes, according to incomplete returns announced by Tehran Radio Sunday.

The radio said the hard-line clergyman won 13.6 million of the 14.2 million votes counted so far. The election, Iran's third presidential poll in two years , was held Friday to elect a successor to President Muhammad Ali Rajai, who was killed in a bomb explosion Aug. 30. Hojatolislam Khamenei will be the first clergyman to hold the office.