Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has been re-elected as head of state following Saturday's national vote, provisional results show.

The electoral commission website shows he took over 56% of the vote, beating six opposition candidates.

In second position was anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid with 22%, while Hamadi Sidi el-Mokhtar of the Islamist Tewassoul party came third with 13%.

Analysts had expected him to win the election in the first round.

The president, a former army chief, is credited with establishing stability since his first election five years ago, after decades of political unrest and frequent coups.

He has been allies with Western partners such as France and the US, but has also kept ties with junta-led neighbours including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which have pivoted towards Russia in recent years.

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Mauritania has largely avoided the Islamist insurgencies affecting neighbouring Sahel states.

On Sunday, Mr Abeid said he would not recognise the results, calling it an “electoral coup”.

"We'll not accept these results from the so-called independent electoral commission. We'll use our own electoral commission to proclaim the results," the AFP news agency quoted him as telling journalists.

Mr Abeid, whose grandparents were slaves and has spent much of his life campaigning against the practice in the country, was vying for presidency for the third time.

He emerged second in the 2019 elections also won by Mr Ghazouani.

He and other opposition candidates alleged irregularities in that election, which led to small-scale protests.

Before this year’s election, the third-place candidate, Mr Mokhtar, warned that his party would not accept the results if it suspected rigging, the AFP news agency reports.

The turnout for the election was about 55%, according to the electoral website.