Parliamentary elections kick off in Tajikistan

Voters went to the polls Sunday morning across Tajikistan to elect new members to fill the country's lower house of the parliament.

Of all the 63 seats open for grab, 41 will be given to candidates with the highest votes from each single constituency and 22 will be proportionally distributed among the country's eight registered political parties, said the country's Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER).

According to the electoral body, 212 candidates will compete for seats in single-mandate constituencies, of which 108 were nominated by political parties and 104 were self-nominated.

All polling stations will be closed at 8 p.m. local time Sunday and preliminary results will be announced at 9 a.m. local time Monday.

The CCER said more than 4 million people are registered to vote in the elections and the elections will be declared valid if over half of the registered voters cast their ballots. Endi