Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch
People in Kyrgyzstan are voting in a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.
Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates are competing 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.
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Polling stations across the country opened at 0800 local time (0200 GMT) and will close at 2000 (1400 GMT).
The BBC's Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make the 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.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11508349
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