Uzbekistan has opened polling stations for the presidential elections which will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Uzbekistan time, RIA Novosti reports.

The country’s five official political parties have registered their candidates.

Analysts say the main candidate who has chances of winning is ex-President Shavkat Miriyev, who was nominated by the Liberal-Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and who supports the expansion of cooperation with the key partners of Uzbekistan, including Russia, China, the U.S. and Central Asian countries, as well as integration with the Eurasian Economic Union.

According to the information of the Central Electoral Commission, there are 19,086,000 citizens with suffrage, 14 district electoral commissions have been set up, and there are 10,760 polling stations. More than 420,000 citizens have voted early since they couldn’t be at the polling stations on the day of the vote. The winning candidate must garner over 50% of the votes, and total turnout has to be 33%.