Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch
Voters in Kyrgyzstan are to head to the polls for a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.
Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates will compete for 120 seats.
Six or seven parties are expected to dominate, although none is expected to easily win a majority of seats.
Authorities have vowed that the elections will take place without a renewal of the violence that hit the south of the country in June.
The BBC’s Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make Sunday’s election significantly different from every other election that has ever taken place in Central Asia.
The vote is the first to be held under a new constitution adopted in a June referendum that changed the form of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary democracy.
The country’s former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted following a popular uprising in April.
Many of those who served in Mr Bakiyev’s government are now in opposition, with strong support in the country’s south – the former president’s stronghold.
Population: 5.5 million (UN, 2009)Major languages: Kyrgyz, RussianMajor religions: Islam, ChristianityMain exports: Fruit, vegetables, gold, tobacco
Much of the attention throughout the poll will be on the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, where a major ethnic conflict took place in June.
Hundreds of people, mostly ethnic Uzbeks, died when violence flared in the south.
The authorities have promised to provide security for all its citizens to ensure peaceful election, our correspondent says.
However, there are fears of protests and violence if political groups do not get the results they are expecting.
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