LA PAZ, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia holds presidential and congressional elections on Sunday. The following are some key facts about the elections.

    Bolivia is a landlocked country covering over 1.09 million square km. Its landscape ranges from the rugged Andes on the western frontier to a highland Altiplano and lowland plains of the Amazon Basin.

    La Paz is the administrative capital and seat of government. It is the highest capital in the Americas at 3,632 meters above sea level.

    Among its 10 million population, the majority are Aymara, Quechua and Guarani Indians. More than 5.13 million people have registered for the coming elections to choose their new president, whose mandate will last for five years starting on Jan. 22, 2010.

    Voters will also elect a vice president, 130 deputies and 27 senators in Sunday's races.

    Voting opens at 7:00 a.m local time (1100 GMT) and ends at 16:00 (2000 GMT) on Sunday, at around 1,750 polling stations. Preliminary official results of the voting will be announced early Sunday night.

    Eight candidates are competing for the presidency. According to the latest four opinion polls, current President Evo Morales of the Movement for Socialism gained 55-60 percent of support, followed by Manfred Reyes Villa, candidate of the Progress Plan party, with 20-24 percent and Samuel Doria Medina, candidate of the National Unity, with 9-11 percent.

    In January this year, Bolivia approved a new constitution in a referendum, which would give more power to the country's indigenous majority, promote agricultural land reforms and allow President Morales to seek re-election.

    A candidate needs an absolute majority to be declared the winner in one round. If no candidate has an outright majority, the congress can vote three times to choose a president. If no choice has been made after the three votings, power goes to the candidate with the largest number of votes.

    More than 30,000 policemen and 15,000 soldiers have been deployed across the country for the elections.

    A 124-member observer team from the Organization of American States and an EU mission are in the country to monitor the elections.