MOSCOW (AP) — Uzbek election officials say that acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has overwhelmingly won a tightly controlled presidential election.

Mirziyoyev garnered 88.61 percent of the vote, according to the head of the Central Election Commission.

Murza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov said during a briefing in Tashkent on Monday that Mirziyoyev got 15.9 million votes.

Sunday's poll was the first election in the Central Asian country since the August death of authoritarian leader Islam Karimov, who ruled for 27 years. Karimov's demise sparked fears of a power battle but the country's regional clans quickly grouped around Mirziyoyev.

Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, is rich in natural resources and borders Afghanistan, making it of strategic interest to Russia, the U.S. and China.