(Reuters) -Tanzania’s electoral commission declared on Saturday that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had won, with nearly 98% of the votes, an election that set off violent protests across the country this week.

The result hands Hassan, who took power in 2021 after the death in office of her predecessor, a five-year term to govern the East African country of 68 million people.

Protests erupted during Wednesday’s vote for president and parliament, with some demonstrators tearing down banners of Hassan and setting fire to government buildings and police firing teargas and gunshots, according to witnesses.

Demonstrators are angry about the electoral commission’s exclusion of Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the race and what they described as widespread repression.

Tanzania’s main oppo

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