Hassan Rouhani leads Iran presidential election vote count
Hassan Rouhani has spoken about the need to re-engage with the West and has promised to free political prisoners
Reformist-backed candidate Hassan Rouhani is maintaining a commanding lead with more than half the ballots counted in Iran's presidential poll.
The cleric has just under 51% of 27.5 million votes counted so far - well ahead of the next candidate, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.
Mr Rouhani could win in the first round if he finishes with more than 50%.
Turnout was estimated at 80% among the 50 million Iranians eligible to vote for a successor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
His eight years in power have been characterised by economic turmoil and Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
Surge of support
Final results are expected later in the day.
Preliminary figures began to emerge early on Saturday after a delay of several hours.
Officials at the election headquarters said that of 27,594,719 votes counted (26,682,084 of them valid):
- Hassan Rouhani has 14,020,139 (50.81%)
- Mr Qalibaf is in second place with 4,369,985 (15.84%)
- Saeed Jalili, on 3,163,211, has moved into third above Mohsen Rezai, who has 3,129,444
State TV channels said the winning candidate needed more than 50% of all ballots cast, including invalid ones, Reuters news agency reported.
Voting was extended by five hours on Friday evening to allow more people to cast their ballots.
Although all six candidates are seen as conservatives, analysts say Mr Rouhani - a 64-year-old cleric often described as "moderate" who has held several parliamentary posts and served as chief nuclear negotiator - has been reaching out to reformists in recent days.
The surge of support for him came after Mohammad Reza Aref, the only reformist candidate in the race, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing on the advice of pro-reform ex-President Mohammad Khatami.
Mr Rouhani thus went into polling day with the endorsement of two ex-presidents - Mr Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was disqualified from the race by the powerful Guardian Council, a 12-member body of theologians and jurists.
The hardline candidates include Mr Qalibaf - who is seen as a pragmatic conservative - and nuclear negotiator Mr Jalili - who is said to be very close to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The other three candidates are Mr Rezai, a former head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.
One eligible voter, Mahdi, a software developer from Mashhad said he had not cast a ballot as he was "against the Islamic Republic".
But he added: "Having said that, I hope Rouhani wins, because he is the best candidate... Rouhani won't change things dramatically, he will probably only make things slightly better."
Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar told state TV that any presidential candidates unhappy with the results would have three days to lodge complaints to the Guardian Council.
The supreme leader will ratify the vote on 3 August, before the new president takes the oath in parliament.
'Intimidation'
After the last presidential election in June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to demand a rerun, when the supreme leader dismissed claims by the three defeated candidates of widespread fraud.
Two of them, former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and senior cleric Mehdi Karroubi, became leaders of a nationwide opposition known as the Green Movement, after its signature colour.
They were placed under house arrested in February 2011 when they applied to stage a protest in support of the anti-government uprisings which were sweeping the Arab world. They are still being detained.
No foreign observers monitored this year's election and there have also been concerns that media coverage in the run-up has been unfair.
Many reformist newspapers have been shut down, access to the internet and foreign broadcasters has been restricted, and journalists have been detained.
On Thursday, the BBC accused the Iranian authorities of "unprecedented levels of intimidation" of BBC employees' families.
It said Iran had warned the families of 15 BBC Persian Service staff that they must stop working for the BBC or their lives in London would be endangered.
Tehran has so far made no comment on the allegation.
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