Evariste Ndayishimiye has been declared the winner of Burundi's presidential election.

Burundi's National Independent Electoral Commission announced the results on Monday, showing Ndayishimiye of the ruling party to have garnered 69% of the vote in the election which took place on May 20.

The 52-year-old beat seven candidates including the main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, who managed got 24% of the vote, according to the election commission.

The margin means the country does not have to go to a run-off vote, since Ndayishimiye garnered more than the 50 percent required.

Rwasa however alleged electoral fraud, with his party announcing it had rejected the result of the poll.

"We fully reject and protest these results because we know very well our party won," the Associated Press quotes Aime Magera, a representative of Rwasa's CNL party. Magera claimed his party won with 57% of the vote.

"We will go to court to challenge this," Magera said.

This is the first time in 15 years that Burundians have headed to an election without President Pierre Nkurunziza's name being on the ballot.

The 55-year-old has served three terms, the third of which sparked lengthy unrest in the country.

The Burundi elections were held as the world battles a COVID-19 pandemic that has infected more than 5.4 million people worldwide, with a death toll exceeding 345,000, according to the U.S. based Johns Hopkins University.

Burundi’s government however did not impose any movement restrictions in the country, having reported 42 infections and one death.