Daniel Chapo of Mozambique's long-ruling Frelimo party was inaugurated as president at a ceremony in the capital on Wednesday.

Chapo succeeds Filipe Nyusi, who served the maximum two terms.

The inauguration followed an October election decried as rigged by opposition parties and after months of violent protests against the vote results.

International rights groups believe more than 100 people were killed by security forces, but some local groups put the death toll at more than 200.

Authorities said the protests were violent and needed to be subdued, but rights groups said security forces fired live bullets at peaceful protesters.

International observers reported irregularities in the vote and the alteration of some results, but the Constitutional Council upheld Frelimo’s victory last month.

Frelimo is a leftist party that was once a guerrilla movement that liberated Mozambique from colonialism.

It has often been accused of rigging elections since the nation's first democratic vote in 1994.

That election followed a bloody 15-year civil war Frelimo fought after independence against rebel group Renamo, which is now an opposition party.

The street protests that rocked several major cities since October were the biggest threat to Frelimo's rule since the 1977-1992 civil war.