Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad at a press conference a day after elections, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 18, 2005.Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and conservative Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad will go to the runoff of Iran's ninth presidential election, the Interior Ministry announced late Saturday after finishing vote count.  (Xinhua/AFP photo)

Mayor of Tehran and Iran's ultra conservative presidential candidate Mahmud Ahmadinejad is seen at a press conference in Tehran, capital of Iran June 18, 2005. (Xinhua photo)

File photo of Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    TEHRAN, June 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and conservative Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad will go to the runoff of Iran's ninth presidential election, the Interior Ministry announced late Saturday after finishing vote count.

    According to ministry statistics, Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad have garnered 6,159,453 and 5,710,354 eligible votes respectively, which account for 21 percent and 19 percent of the total eligible votes of 29,317,420, state television reported.

    The final result was announced about 2 hours after some media reported Ahmadinejad's entrance while he himself also claimed so.

    Former Majlis (parliament) Speaker Mehdi Karoubi stands at the third in the race with 5,066,316 votes, and he was surpassed by Ahmadinejad at the last minute after holding the second position with a slight dominance for almost a whole day.

    Former police chief Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf has collected 4,075,189 and Mostafa Moin, a radical reformist former Higher Education Minister, has gotten 4,054,304.

    Former state broadcasting body chief Ali Larijani and Vice President Mohsen Mehralizadeh are at the end of the list, with 1,740,163 and 1,289,323 votes in hand respectively.

    The Interior Ministry said that some 32 million among 46.7 million eligible voters cast votes across the country.

    The runoff will be held on next Friday, June 24.

    Rafsanjani served two terms as president from 1989 to 1997. Jailed for several times during the Shah's reign, Rafsanjani was appointed member of the Revolutionary Committee, the Interior Minister and the Majlis Speaker.

    The 71-year-old politician, currently heading the Expediency Council, is seen as a figure who favors improving ties with the West and liberalizing the Islamic Republic's stagnant economy.

    During the campaign, Rafsanjani put forward the slogan of "Economic Democracy," holding that economic growth and freedoms are prerequisites for social and political democracy.

    Rafsanjani's rival, Ahmadinejad, is supported mostly by the poor in the country and many citizens in Tehran, which he has governed for 2 years.

    The 49-year mayor was a former special forces officer of the Revolutionary Guards. Enditem