Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was sworn in here on Wednesday as the fourth elected president of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The hitherto foreign minister was sworn in by the country's Chief Justice Honorary Barnabas Samatta in the presence of outgoing Tanzanian president Benjamin William Mkapa, Tanzanian National Assembly Speaker Pius Msekwa, President of Zanzibar Amani Abeid Karume, the country's religious leaders and 12 heads of state from African countries.

The presence of the King of Lesotho and presidents from Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe made Wednesday's inauguration as the one Tanzanian swear-in ceremony witnessed by most foreign dignitaries.

The African Union, the East African Community, the Southern African Development Community and the World Bank as well as China, the United States, Egypt, Japan and South Korea sent their well- wishers.

Kikwete, who has been serving as the country's foreign minister for the past decade, was returned the winner of the 2005 Tanzanian presidential polls, garnering 9,123,952 or 80.28 percent of the valid votes of 11,875,927 cast on Wednesday last week to win for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.

His nearest rival, Ibrahim Haruna Lipumba representing the country's largest opposition party of Civic United Front, tallied 11.68 of the votes.

As much as 72.4 percent of the 16,401,694 registered voters have cast their ballots in this year's general elections.

The newly sworn-in president thanked the people of Tanzania, the members and supporters of his ruling party and foreign dignitaries for their trust and support.

He promised to render a keynote speech on his governance plan between 2005 and 2010, known as the fourth phase government, during the first session of the newly elected national assembly that is scheduled to meet on December 29 in Dodoma, Tanzania's new capital.

Source: Xinhua