Ahmed Abdalla Sambi

Election officials in Comoros say Islamist candidate Ahmed Abdalla Sambi won a landslide victory in the country's presidential election.

The national election board announced Tuesday that Mr. Sambi won more than 58 percent of the vote in Sunday's balloting.

About 28 percent of the vote went to politician Ibrahim Halidi, who was backed by outgoing president Assoumani Azili.

Mr. Azili is barred from re-election because of a power-sharing agreement that calls for the presidency to rotate among the nation's three islands.

Called "Ayatollah" by his supporters, Mr. Sambi is an Iranian-trained Islamic religious leader from the island of Anjouan.

Comoros has a history of inter-island strife and coups since independence from France in 1975.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP  and Reuters.