Kyrgyzstan votes in a landmark parliamentary election

Kyrgyz voters cast their ballots today to create the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, in an election many hope can unite the country only four months after the worst bloodshed in its modern history. After nearly two decades of failed authoritarian rule, interim leaders want to empower a prime minister to restore stability in the former Soviet republic, where clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks killed more than 400 people in June.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has stationed 40 long-term observers around the country and a further 200 short-term observers arrived for the vote.
Twenty-nine parties have registered for the election, of which six were widely expected to attract a large amount of support from Kyrgyzstan's 2.8 million registered voters -- slightly more than half of the country's total population.