Bashar al-Assad will serve a fourth term in office after winning Syria’s presidential election.

Parliamentary speaker Hammouda Sabbagh told a live conference that Mr Assad had won 95.1% of the vote, and that turnout was 78.6%. His two challengers, Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmed Mari, gained 1.5% and 3.3% of the vote respectively.

Syria’s opposition called the vote a farce, while the US and European countries said it was not free or fair. As he cast his ballot on Wednesday, Mr Assad said the West’s opinion counted for “zero”.

Syria has been devastated by a decade-long conflict that erupted after Mr Assad’s government responded with deadly force to peaceful pro-democracy protests in March 2011.

The fighting has left at least 388,000 people dead and caused half the population to flee their homes, including almost six million refugees abroad.

The election was held in government-controlled areas of the country and in some Syrian embassies overseas.