Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has won a controversial third consecutive term in office, the election commission announced Friday.

Nkurunziza won 69.4 per cent of the vote, handing him a first round victory, officials said.

He won 16 out of 18 provinces, with the other two taken by his closet rival Agathon Rwasa — who won a total 18.99 per cent — even though he had denounced the polls as illegitimate.

Nkurunziza's candidacy was condemned as unconstitutional by the opposition and provoked months of protests and an attempted coup in the central African nation.

Although eight candidates were on the ballot paper for the presidential polls, most withdrew from the race, with the closure of most independent media preventing them from campaigning.

Anti-Nkurunziza protests have been violently repressed, leaving at least 100 people dead since late April. Many opponents have also fled — joining an exodus of more than 150,000 ordinary Burundians who fear their country may again be engulfed by widespread violence.

In mid-May, rebel generals attempted to overthrow Nkurunziza in a coup, which failed. They have since launched a rebellion in the north of the country.

Turnout in the polls was 73.44 per cent, the election commission said.