Turkmenistan's parliamentary elections to elect deputies to the 50-seat single-chamber parliament or Mejilis ended Sunday.

Voting started at 0300 GMT and ended at 1300 GMT. The 131 candidates contesting parliament's 50 seats all represent the Democratic Party, the only party in the Central Asian country led by President Saparmurat Niyazov.

Turkmenistan's election commission did not invite foreign observers to Sunday's election, saying the polls' fairness will beguaranteed by 200 observers from the official National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights.

Election officials said 76.88 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots, far more than the required 50 percent to make the vote valid.

The official Turkmen Press news agency quoted the observers andelection officials as saying that the vote met the conditions set in Turkmenistan's voting laws.

A Turkmen Foreign Ministry statement said the vote went off "incompliance with international norms and the country's election law."

It said that according to early results, elections in seven electoral districts will need runoff ballots.

Source: Xinhua