Uzbek parliamentary poll ends

Voters in Uzbekistan cast their ballots on Sunday in elections that are likely to see strongman President Islam Karimov bolster his hold on power, with all four parties in the poll supporting his policies.

Four pro-Karimov parties were vying for 135 seats in the lower house of parliament, the remaining 15 seats of which were reserved for an ecological movement made up of pro-government environmentalist groups, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Interfax said that the results of the election in the ex-Soviet Central Asian state would be declared valid, as turnout had surpassed the minimum level of 33 percent. Twenty million people were eligible to vote.

The elections were monitored by a small mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which described the poll as being "limited" in nature. Opposition leaders, many of whom have fled the country over the past years, had called for the election to be boycotted, to no avail.

Election results are not expected before Monday, authorities told DPA news agency.

Imminent presidentials

Sunday's vote took place 90 days before March presidential polls in which Karimov, who has ruled the nation since 1991, is widely expected to seek re-election.

In 2012, Uzebekistan's parliament shortened the presidential term from seven to five years. Karimov, 76, was re-elected in December 2007 for the old seven-year term.

The landlocked country is Central Asia's most populous with 30 million people, and has rich reserves of oil and minerals.

tj/mg (AFP, Reuters)