South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also current African Union chairperson, has congratulated John Magufuli on his re-election as Tanzania’s president.

Despite the general elections being marred by incidents of violence, persecution of opposition activists and widespread accusations of rigging, Tanzania’s electoral commission declared Magufuli the overall winner, securing a second five-year term with a resounding 84 percent of the votes.

According to Pretoria’s acting Presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale, Ramaphosa commended the people of Tanzania “for upholding democratic principles and holding peaceful elections”.

“Furthermore, the president (Ramaphosa) looks forward to working with Dr Magufuli to strengthen the strong and cordial bilateral relations that exist between South Africa and Tanzania, as well as in matters of mutual interest in the Southern African Development Community region, the African continent and the world,” said Seale.

Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission announced that Magufuli, who leads the Chama Cha Mapinduzi political party, received 12.5-million votes in last week’s election, while his main challenger, Tundu Lissu of the Chadema party, got 1.9-million votes, which translates to 13 percent of the overall vote.

The National Electoral Commission has dismissed the widespread allegations of fraud and irregularities.