YAOUNDE, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Equatorial Guinea opened the presidential elections on Sunday morning to choose the leader of the oil rich central African country, with the current head of state, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, seen as the front runner of the five contenders, according to reports monitored here.

Obiang, 67, has declared that he does not expect anything less than 97 percent of the votes cast in the elections being unfolded.

Election officials said the polling stations were set to close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT). African monitors were deployed to follow the process.

The final outcome is expected within a week, although initial results could be known in one or two days.

The candidate for the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), Obiang, who has been in power for three decades, won the last election in December 2002 with 97.1 percent of the votes cast.

The four other candidates are Placido Minko Abogo of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), Carmelo Mba Bacale of the Popular Action for Equatorial Guinea, Achivaldo Montero of the People's Union and Bonaventura Monsuy Asumu of the Coalition of Social democrats Party.

The elections are seen as a race mainly between Obiang and Minko Abogo, although the president is widely expected to win another landslide victory.

Obiang led a coup in August 1979 which toppled the then leader Francisco Macias Nguema. In 1982, He was elected president for a seven-year term.

Obiang was re-elected in 1989, 1996 and 2002, each time with more than 90 percent of vote.

Mico Abogo is the only CPDS deputy in the Chamber of People's Representatives (parliament). His party won one out of the 100 seats in the parliamentary elections in 2008, while the PDGE and its allies took all the rest.

The Central African country covers 28,051 square km with a population of one million. It is made up of two parts: the mainland part which borders Cameroon and Gabon, and islands in the Gulf of Guinea. The capital city Malabo is located in the Bioko island.

Equatorial Guinea is third oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa with a double digit economic growth recorded for several years.

The mineral rich country attracts big foreign companies such as Exxon Mobil of the United States, E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany, Union Fenosa of Spain and Galp Energia of Portugal.

Other natural resources of the country include natural gas, timber, gold, bauxite, diamond, tantalum and clay.