Moderate Declared Winner of Iranian Presidential Election

Will succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Hassan Rouhani, a moderate Shiite cleric known as one of Iran's leading foreign policy experts, has won the election to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the Islamic Republic's next president, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced Saturday evening.

With results from all the precinct in, Rouhani had won 50.7 percent of the votes, avoiding a runoff, Mohammad-Najjar said.