BUJUMBURA: Burundi counted votes Wednesday a day after a presidential election marred by violence and international condemnation that is expected to see incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza win a controversial third term.

Results from the polls, which were condemned as illegitimate by the international community after sparking months of deadly violence that forced tens of thousands to flee the country, are expected on Friday.

The government dismissed criticism of the poll after the United States, European Union and former colonial power Belgium said the elections were not credible.

“Turnout is largely satisfactory, and the conduct of this election has convinced even the undecided that Burundi has reached a certain maturity in carrying out elections that are free, transparent and calm,” Willy Nyamitwe, Nkurunziza’s chief communications adviser, told French radio RFI. The US on Tuesday said the government’s refusal to delay the vote threatened its legitimacy and risked “unraveling the fragile progress” made by the peace deal that ended more than a decade of civil war and ethnic massacres in 2006.