Parliamentary and local elections in Tajikistan ended on Sunday at 20:00 local time (15:00 GMT) with a voter turnout of 85.2%, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.

"A total of 3,102,073 voters voted at 3,067 polling stations," CEC spokesman Abdurakhmon Abdumannonov told RIA Novosti.

Tajikistan's top election body declared the election in the ex-Soviet republic valid, with the country's electoral threshold being 50% plus one vote.

Preliminary results of the elections will be announced on Monday and final official results within 10 days.

Tajikistan's ruling People's Democratic Party led by incumbent President Emomali Rakhmon is expected to strengthen its power in the state's legislature.

The People's Democratic Party is the largest among the eight officially registered political parties in Tajikistan, numbering 85,000 members. The party currently holds 52 of the 63 seats in the parliament.

Rakhmon, who has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for almost two decades with an iron fist, was re-elected leader of the People's Democratic Party in December 2009.

Rakhmon's eldest son, Rustam Emomali, believed to be his father's possible successor, is running for a deputy seat in the Dushanbe city council.

DUSHANBE, February 28 (RIA Novosti)