Voting begins in Kyrgyz presidential election

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his wife cast their ballots at the No. 1223 polling station in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, July 23, 2009. Polls opened Thursday morning across Kyrgyzstan in the Central Asian nation's fifth presidential election since its independence in 1991.(Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

A voter casts the ballot at a polling station in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, July 23, 2009. Polls opened Thursday morning across Kyrgyzstan in the Central Asian nation's fifth presidential election since its independence in 1991.(Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

BISHKEK, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Polls opened Thursday morning across Kyrgyzstan in the Central Asian nation's fifth presidential election since its independence in 1991.

Voting began at 8:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) and is due to conclude at 8:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).

About 2.8 million eligible voters are expected to vote in 2,281 polling stations all over the country, and some 17,000 voters had cast ballots in early voting, according to the Kyrgyz Central Election Commission.

About 140,O00 overseas voters will vote at 49 polling stations abroad, of which 21 are in Russia.

There are six candidates on the ballot, including incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and opposition candidate Almazbek Atambayev, the former prime minister.

More than 500 international observers from 48 countries, mainly the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, together with over 10,000 local observers, will monitor the election.

Under the Kyrgyz constitution, the president has a five-year term and is allowed to be reelected once.

The candidate garnering more than 50 percent of the vote in a valid first round, defined as having a turnout over 50 percent, will win the election. If there is no outright winner in the first round, the top two candidates will go forward to a run-off.

Bakiyev, who won the previous election in July 2005, is widely expected to win a second term in office.

"If I am reelected, Kyrgyzstan will adhere to the principle of partnership relations and maintain sound relationships with China, Russia, the United States as well as other neighboring countries," Bakiyev told reporters after voting at a polling station in the capital of Bishkek on Thursday morning.

Bakiyev is a worthy president as the country's infrastructure has improved and people's income increased during the past four years, a thirty-year-old woman voter at the scene told Xinhua.

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia, is at the heart of a Russian-U.S. contest for control over the strategically important region near Afghanistan. Both Russia and the United States now operate military bases in the former Soviet republic.

In February, Kyrgyzstan announced the decision to close the Manas air base on the outskirts of Bishkek, a key logistic hub for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

Bishkek, however, agreed last month to allow the United States to continue using the Manas air base as a transit center, reversing the earlier decision backed by Moscow.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Russia is seeking to open another military base in southern Kyrgyzstan, a move seen as a symbol of Moscow's escalated rivalry with Washington.