The results were announced by the minister in charge of electoral affairs, Hassan Ahmed el-Barwan, two days after the second round of voting.

The Comoros federation -- which consists of three islands that have their own presidents -- has been plagued by 19 coups and coup attempts since its independence from France in 1975.

But the latest round of polling was praised as calm and marked only by minor delays and irregularities in the polling process.

The federal parliament counts 33 deputies, only 24 of which are directly elected by the people. The remaining nine are chosen by each of the archipelago's three island councils.

Sambi's camp mustered 19 of the seats decided in the election, while opposition groups managed only five, including all three seats up for grabs on the smaller island of Moheli.

Many of the current government's ministers secured re-election while former foreign minister Ibrahim Ali Mzimba and former prime minister Bianrifi Tarmidi are among the new opposition faces in parliament.

The comfortable victory by the presidential "Baobab" movement paves the way for a parliamentary majority to approve a move by Sambi to extend by a year his current mandate, due to expire next year.

A constitutional amendment extending the federal president's term from four to five years has already been passed, but part of the opposition argues the new rule cannot apply to the sitting president.

Sambi, now 51, was elected in 2006 in the first ever peaceful transfer of power in the Comoros.