Voters in Tajikistan headed to the polls on Monday in the Central Asian nation's presidential election, in which incumbent President Emomali Rakhmonov is running against four other candidates for the country's top job.

About 3.4 million eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots at more than 3,000 polling stations across the country of 7 million people for the election, the Central Commission on Elections and Referenda said.

Polls opened at 6:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) and will close at 8:00 p.m. (1500 GMT). Official results are expected on Tuesday.

Rakhmonov, who was nominated by his People's Democratic Party, is facing Olimdzhon Boboyev of the Party of Economic Reform, Abdukhalim Gaffarov of the Socialist Party, Amirkul Karakulov of the Agrarian Party and Ismoil Talbakov of the Communist Party.

The vote is being watched by hundreds of observers from international groups like the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Source: Xinhua