Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the presidential election with 97.66% of the vote, according to final results announced Saturday on state television after three days of election violence.

The East African country descended into violence on Wednesday, the day of presidential and legislative elections which took place without opposition, as the two main opponents of the head of state were either imprisoned or disqualified.

The opposition has reported a death toll of 700. Ms. Hassan has made no comment on the unrest.

Despite the protests, the incumbent president won more than 97.66% of the votes, or 31.9 million votes out of 32.7 million counted, according to the electoral commission.

"I declare Samia Suluhu Hassan the elected president of the United Republic of Tanzania, with the CCM party," Jacobs Mwambegele told state television.

An investiture ceremony will follow as early as Saturday, the media outlet specified, according to information transmitted by an AFP journalist by telephone due to the internet shutdown in effect in the country of 68 million inhabitants.

Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was promoted to head of Tanzania upon the death of her predecessor John Magufuli in 2021, now aspires to be elected.

Initially praised for easing restrictions imposed by her predecessor, she was later accused of carrying out a severe crackdown on her critics, particularly in the lead-up to the election.

The UN is calling for an investigation

An AFP journalist observed low voter turnout at polling stations in Dar es Salaam, the country's economic capital and largest city, on Wednesday. These stations are usually packed, but heavy gunfire erupted as hundreds of people protested, setting fire to a police station. The protests subsequently spread across the country.

"As we speak, the number of deaths in Dar (es Salaam) is around 350 and there are more than 200 in Mwanza (north). If we add the figures from other places in the country, we arrive at a total of around 700 deaths," the spokesman for the opposition Chadema party, John Kitoka, told AFP on Thursday.

This party was excluded from the elections and called for a boycott of the vote. Its leader, Tundu Lissu, arrested in April, is on trial for treason, an accusation punishable by death.

"There has been no excessive use of force," Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo told Al-Jazeera, referring to "pockets of violence" in the country.

"I haven't seen those 700 deaths," he continued. "We still don't have any figures for any victims in the country."

The opposition's death toll was described as "quite credible" by a diplomatic source, who reported "hundreds of dead." A security source interviewed by AFP received similar information.

Several hospitals and health centers declined to comment to AFP. The internet remains largely blocked, complicating data collection efforts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "deeply concerned," called in a statement Friday for a "thorough and impartial investigation into allegations of excessive use of force," urging all parties to exercise "restraint" and "prevent any further escalation."