Polls have opened in Uzbekistan where President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is likely to secure a third term as head of state.
Polling stations opened at 8am (03:00 GMT) and are set to close at 8pm (15:00 GMT) on Sunday, with about 20 million Uzbeks eligible to vote in Central Asia’s most populous country.
The snap election comes months after a constitutional referendum paved the way for Mirziyoyev to serve two more presidential terms and increased the tenure from five years to seven.
The change means the 65-year-old incumbent could stay in power until 2037.
Mirziyoyev served as prime minister under his hardline predecessor Islam Karimov before winning his first term in 2016 and getting re-elected in 2021.
He has promised to open up his country, a tightly controlled former Soviet republic, to foreign investment and tourism.
Article from www.aljazeera.com