Initially scheduled to be held in November, the vote was brought forward to April 24 following a presidential decree, with no reason offered for the change.
Voters lined up outside polling stations in the capital Malabo before they opened at 8am (07H00 GMT). Voting is scheduled to close at 6pm, with results not expected until Thursday.
Obiang, who has ruled the west African country with an iron fist since overthrowing his uncle in a coup in 1979, faces six candidates in Sunday's vote.
The main opposition parties have however boycotted a vote that Obiang looks certain to win.
In the last election in 2009, he was returned to office with a sweeping 95.37 percent of votes.
Aged 73, Obiang became president in 1982, three years after having his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema, who had ruled the country since independence from Spain, shot by firing squad.
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