was not a household name until the 2017-presidential election. which he ran as a hardline-rival candidate to incumbent president hassan rouahni. he actually lost to him with 60 million votes. and then, from then on, we really saw his ascent in the iranian government. he was made iran s judiciary chief. and what we are really seeing is is this protégé of the supreme leader is being groomed possibly as a supreme leader in waiting, once the supreme leader passes. so this is part of khameni s legacy. and with raisi, at 60 years old, he sort of fits that area when you look at the lineup of clerics in the government. so by having raisi as president, he is one of the branches of government that will, all, be hardline led. and then, with that in mind,
we blended in with the crowd hi. welcome to our viewers here, in the united states, and all around the world. i m robyn curnow. coming up, an ultra-conservative cleric is elected iran s president. but the united states maintains, the process that got him there is anything but free and fair. plus, heavy rain and tornados, as the remnants of tropical storm claudette, slowly, move across the southeastern united states. and dancing, marches, and block parties. juneteenth celebrations across the country. americans gather to mark the new-federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people, in the u.s.
andres manuel lopez obrador. mexico s current foreign minister and another-presidential hopeful spearheaded the line-12 project when he was mayor of mexico city. and some analysts suggest part of the reason why there were many faults in the construction is that it was rushed. he wanted to be the guy to cut the ribbon. reporter: this mexican journalist says the political implications for president andres manuel lopez obrador and his party, morena, are widespread. the party has has gotten a very big hit. and we saw it in the elections. when you see the capital of mexico being divided. where the capital of mexico is the biggest-political base for the president. mow reno, the president s party. after the june-6th midterm elections held one month after the train collapse, the number was reduced to less than half. the foreign minister has denied any wrongdoing, multiple times.
live, from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with robyn curnow. thanks for joining me, this hour. so, the american government, on saturday, acknowledged eebbrahi raisi is the next president of iran but denounced friday s election as fundamentally un-democratic. in a statement, the u.s. state department said iranians were denied the right to choose their own leaders in a free and fair electoral process. our iran policy is designed to advance u.s. interests, regardless of who is in power. we would like to build on the meaningful progress achieved during the latest rounds of talks in vienna. we will continue discussions along with our allies and partners on a mutual return to compliance with a joint comprehensive plan of action. but with few alternatives on the ballot, many iranians just,
simply, didn t bother to vote. leading to a record-low turnout. fred pleitgen has more from tehran. reporter: conservatives celebrating a major victory that could shape the political direction of this country, for a long time. ebrahim raisi, a man very close to iran s supreme leader, will soon take over as president. with the help of god and with the help of eeb rahim raisi. he managed to garner more than 60% of the vote, the interior ministry says. ebrahim raisi won his landslide victory in this presidential election. of course, not everyone is celebrating after the moderates suffered a crushing defeat. reporter: while some shops in this market have, already, hung