Uzbekistan will hold presidential elections on Sunday (October 24). There is no doubt that the current President Shavkat Mirziyoev, who has opened Central Asian countries to the world in recent years, will be re-elected for a five-year term.
This reporter saw voters in Tashkent voting proudly without folding their ballots, which usually made their choices visible in the transparent ballot box.
In all these cases, Mirziyoyev’s name was ticked on the ballot. Many voters who spoke to EURACTIV said they hope he will continue to change the country, as he has done since taking office five years ago. Some people called the election “a celebration.”
The organizer explained that due to the COVID, there were no curtains in the voting room, but this did not seem to bother anyone.
The 64-year-old Mirziyoyev took over the most populous country in Central Asia in 2016 after the death of his hard-line predecessor and former patron Islam Karimov, who ruled for nearly three years.
Mirziyoyev was praised for opening the country to the world, which improved the standard of living. Abroad, he promoted regional cooperation and had constructive contacts with world participants.
In the election, Mirziyoev faced four relatively low-key challengers.
Low-key challenger
Each of the five candidates represents one of the five political parties represented in the Uzbekistan Parliament: Maqsuda Vorisova (Maqsuda Vorisova), he is a therapist. Training, Social Democratic Party’Adolat’ and its candidate Bahrom Abduhalimov, Democratic Party’Milliy Tiklanish’, candidate Alisher Qodirov, and the most recent political party Eco Party and its candidate Narzullo Oblomurodov.
The electoral system only allows each political party to nominate one candidate, which can be a member of its team or a candidate without party affiliation.
Independent and non-partisan candidates themselves cannot legally participate in elections.
In Tashkent, there were few obvious signs of election on Sunday due to legal requirements prohibiting the display of posters or billboards on election day.
Approximately 120,000 Uzbeks from abroad voted in the past week, most of them in Russia and other post-Soviet republics. Domestically, as online cooperation between electoral authorities has improved, citizens who live outside their place of residence are allowed to vote for the first time.
Western media sometimes criticize Mirziyoev for not being a reformist in the political field. But journalist Shoxruz Mirzaqobilov told EURACTIV that these elections “have nothing to do with the elections under Karimov’s leadership. According to him, many of his colleagues were in prison at the time.” He emphasized that as a reporter, he is now free to complete his work without undue pressure.
Uzbekistan was relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis, and a large number of foreign observers and guests came to participate in the elections. The vast majority are short-term observers, mainly on election day.
One of them is the former Kazakhstan ambassador to Belgium Aygul Kuspan (Aygul Kuspan), the current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Kazakhstan Parliament.
She told EURACTIV that this election provided an opportunity to measure support for the current leadership of neighboring countries, and she praised the liberalism and modernization of neighboring countries. She said that this has tripled the trade between the two countries, and visits and exchanges have also flourished.
Kuspan said that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are following the same democratization path and both support regional cooperation.
Internet restrictions are still in effect in Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch still describes the country’s political system as authoritarian. Western diplomats say that Uzbekistan cannot be compared with EU member states in terms of democratic standards, but in general they acknowledge that some progress has been made.
A diplomat said that Mirziyoyev could have followed Putin’s footsteps and passed legislation to keep him in power, but instead he initiated some reforms to make the presidential election more democratic.
At the time of publication, the turnout rate was 80% of the 16 million voters. No export polls have been conducted, and preliminary results are not expected. The official results are expected to be announced on Monday.
The last 2016 election was criticized by the OSCE, especially the problem of ballot filling. Obviously, there are still no safeguards to prevent a single voter from casting more than one ballot.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
After the article was published, the authorities announced the results of the election, and Mirziyoyev won 80% of the vote. Other candidates get:
6.6% Vorisova;
5.5%-Kodirov;
4.1%-Oblomurodov;
3.4%-Abdu Khalimov.
