this is not going to happen, so I don’t care now and I don’t know who to vote for.”
The ageing Karimov has contended with increasing rumours of illness and physical frailty but appeared healthy last weekend when dancing at celebrations to mark the beginning of spring.
He stressed the importance of stability during the low-key six-week campaign.
“What do Uzbek people need? We need peace and well-being,” Karimov told the crowd.
On Wednesday he defended the need for “strong government”, telling a small group of voters in comments aired by state media that otherwise “there will be chaos in society.”
He added: “The time will come when we will give full freedom to our citizens, all human freedoms, and first and foremost, freedom of the media.”
Karimov has continually warned of the danger posed by Islamic radicals based in Afghanistan, some of whom are ethnic Uzbeks.
“If we retain stability in Uzbekistan, we secure order in the entire Central Asian region,” Rafik Sayfullin, a political analyst based in Tashkent, told AFP. “Let these elections pass normally so that we can keep the same team.”
Strategically located Uzbekistan provided support to the US-led military operation in its southern neighbour Afghanistan and maintains close ties with both Russia and China.
More than 300 international observers from 43 different countries are monitoring the vote. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is expected to issue its assessment of the ballot on Monday.
The presidential vote will complete a political cycle for the country after parliamentary elections in December.
Uzbek expatriates voted in a number of different countries where Uzbekistan has diplomatic representation, including Russia, where more than two million Uzbek migrant labourers live, according to the Federal Migration Service. Polling ends at 1500 GMT, with results expected late on Sunday or Monday.