More than 84 percent of Tajikistan's 3.1 registered voters cast ballots in Sunday's legislative elections likely to be dominated by the ruling party of President Emomali Rakhmonov in the Central Asian country scarred by civil war. The 3,000 polling stations closed at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT) and the turnout had reached 84.4 percent two hours before the closing, said the election commission's spokeswoman Lola Khalikdjanova.

Voting passed off "calmly", she said, and the first results were expected early on Monday.

Over 400 observers from the OSCE rights and security watchdog, the United States, Russia and other member states within the Commonwealth of Independent States - a loose grouping of 12 former Soviet republics - were registered to monitor the elections.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005