Polls have opened for the more than 20 million registered voters to elect a 150-seat lower house of parliament, or Oliy Majlis.

Authorities sent out text messages encouraging people to vote on Sunday. Polls are open until 8pm local time (15.00 UTC).

Four parties - the Liberal Democratic Party, People's Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) - are competing to fill 135 seats.

The remaining 15 seats will automatically go to the Ecological Movement. It was founded in 2008 and is made up of activists from pro-government environmentalist groups.

All the parties support President Islam Karimov's policies. He has been in power for two decades, since the fall of the Soviet Union. The 76-year-old president won a further seven-year term in 2007 and indicated last May he wanted to stay in his post. Presidential elections are scheduled for next March.

Head of the central election commission Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalamov said the conditions had been set for "free and fair elections... that meet the highest international democratic standards."

A small team from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been deployed, citing the "limited nature of the competition."

Human rights

Earlier this month, the New York-based #link:http://http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/18/uzbekistan-probe-prison-death:Human Rights Watch# called for the release of everyone imprisoned on politically motivated charges under a Constitution Day amnesty. The group also said authorities should carry out an effective investigation into the September 2014 death in custody of Nilufar Rahimjonova, a 37-year-old woman imprisoned on politically motivated charges.

"The Uzbek government has imprisoned and tortured some of the world's longest-held political activists, independent journalists, and other peaceful figures," said Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

jm/cd (AFP, dpa)