Amadou Toumani Toure, Mali's president, has been re-elected with an absolute majority in Sunday's election, according to official results.
Provisional results announced on Thursday by the territorial administration ministry, which organised the election and collated the returns, showed Toure won 68.3 per cent of the valid votes.
His closest rival, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, president of the national assembly and a former prime minister, trailed well behind with 18.59 per cent of the ballots.
Voter turnout, traditionally low in Malian polls, was 36 per cent.
Toure's campaign had previously claimed more than 70 per cent of votes while those backing Keita have already cried foul and pledged to challenge the outcome.
'Free and fair'
Foreign observers say the vote in the former French colony, one of the world's poorest countries, were free and fair.
Credited with rescuing West Africa's second largest country from military dictatorship, Toure first seized power in a 1991 coup and won international acclaim for handing over power to an elected president the following year.
The soft-spoken former parachute commando - dubbed "The Soldier of Malian Democracy" - made a comeback as a civilian with his election in 2002.
Since then he has worked to improve relations with foreign donors and investors, while focusing much of his attention at home on mechanising agriculture and building roads to get produce to market.
The election results must be submitted by Friday to the constitutional court for approval.