People in Uzbekistan Will Change Their President for the First Time After the Collapse of the Soviet Union

• 12.04.2016, 13:26
•  World

EurasiaNet.org

In Uzbekistan today  presidential election are ongoing, the voter turnout of which has passed the validity threshold reaching 33.73 percent, Sputnik News reports citing to the Central Asian nation’s central election commission.

"As of 11:00 [6:00GMT], 6.89 million have come to polling stations, or 33.73 percent of the registered total," the commission's chairman, Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, said.

Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. (1:00GMT) and will close at 8 p.m.

All four candidates running for Uzbekistan’s presidency have cast their ballots in the election that will bring to power a new leader after the death of President Islam Karimov, who ruled the country for 25 years.