Ruling party candidate Ikililou Dhoinine has been declared winner of presidential polls in the Comoros, which the opposition in the Indian Ocean archipelago claimed were marred by fraud.
The 48-year-old Dhoinine, outgoing President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi's deputy and heir-designate, took 61 per cent of the vote, elections minister Abderemane Ben Cheikh Achiraf on Wednesday said, reading the poll commission's final results.
Sunday's ballot, which France also said had been marked by irregularities, saw the pre-poll favourite's two challengers trail by a big margin, with Mr Mohamed Said Fazul garnering 33 per cent and Mr Abdou Djabir only six per cent.
Mr Dhoinine's victory, which still has to be approved by the constitutional court, marks the first a politician from the Comoros' smallest isle of Moheli has won the presidency since the country's 1975 independence from France.
All three candidates were from Moheli, in line with the constitution, which provides for the federal presidency to rotate between the archipelago's three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli.
According to the electoral commission, 52.8 per cent of registered turned out to cast a ballot on Sunday.
Irregularities
The opposition has claimed the polls were riddled with irregularities, especially on Anjouan where they charged that ballot boxes were stuffed, voting papers stolen and opposition observers chased from polling stations.
"On Anjouan there was no poll but rather organised chaos and massive fraud," opposition official Said Larifou said on voting day.
"The chaos was orchestrated in places where the ruling party candidate wasn't doing well in order that the results might be voided... These were targeted actions," he added.
Mr Dhoinine's running-mate Mohamed Ali Soilihi said the elections were peaceful.
"The polls were conducted peacefully under the normal conditions of an electoral contest," Mr Soilihi told AFP.
"Regarding the claims of fraud by the opposition, I have nothing tangible to say about them. Only the observers on the ground or the CENI (poll body) can prove that."
President Sambi is from Anjouan and came to power in 2006 in the first peaceful transfer of power in a country which has been rattled by 19 coups and attempted coups since independence.
Sparked riots
Sunday's elections also brought an end to an interim presidential mandate set up earlier this year when Mr Sambi tried to extend his term, sparking riots on Moheli which complained that it was being robbed of its turn in power.
Mr Sambi's term formally expired in May this year, but he prolonged his stay after overseeing constitutional changes in 2009.
The incumbent leader said he was backing his vice president because he wanted to see the nation governed by "a man who is capable of continuing the work I began."
Mr Dhoinine had won a first round restricted to the island of Moheli last month. Only his two closest challengers in the November primary were allowed to enter the national ballot.
Voters in the Comoros also elected governors for each of the three islands during Sunday's polls.
The overwhelmingly Muslim state is one of the world's poorest countries with 45 per cent of its estimated 670,000 inhabitants living in abject poverty, according to the World Bank.
By: AFP (Africa Review)
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