Observers call democratic Uzbekistan's elections
By Aynur Jafarova
Observers from various organizations have assessed the parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan as free, open, democratic and transparent.
The observation mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States recognized the elections held on December 21 as free and open, Head of the Mission Sergey Lebedev said at a briefing on December 22.
“The CIS observation mission consisting of 76 people arrived in Uzbekistan at the invitation of the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan to monitor the preparation and holding processes of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (lower house of the parliament) on December 21,” he said.
The mission included representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the CIS Executive Committee.
Lebedev also noted the CIS observers visited all regions, monitored 70 percent of the district election commissions and 707 polling stations.
The observation mission from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) also assessed the elections in Uzbekistan as transparent and democratic.
“The elections were held in accordance with the Uzbek law and the country’s international obligations,” Head of SCO mission, Deputy Secretary General of the organization Makhmadsharif Khakdodov said at a briefing.
He said the elections held in Uzbekistan were transparent and democratic.
Khakdodov also noted the SCO mission monitored the preparation and holding processes of the elections from December 19 to December 22. The mission accomplished its tasks in compliance with the requirements to the international observers.
The mission reviewed the pre-election program of the political parties participating in the elections - the Liberal Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival), and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice).
The mission also got acquainted with the activities of some election commissions to objectively assess the process of holding the elections.
On the voting day, the mission was present in 73 polling stations in Tashkent city and Tashkent province.
Alongside with the SCO mission, observers from political parties, election agents of the candidates as well as international observers visited the polling stations. The mission didn’t receive any complaints from those persons during the voting process.
The mission members had an opportunity to visit various polling stations at their own discretion, freely observe the election process and get the needed information about the members of the commissions of polling stations.
The mission representatives also took part in the process of counting the ballots and drawing up relevant protocols on the voting results at the polling stations.
“No case of violation of the Uzbek law was reported by the mission during these procedures,” Khakdodov added.
Over 18 million citizens or over 88 percent of the total number of the voters took part in the elections.
Around 535 candidates from four political parties - the Liberal Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival), and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) fought for 135 seats in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (a lower house of the Uzbek parliament), the CEC said.
Moreover, there are 15 seats in the parliament for the representatives of the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, which elected its representatives at a conference on December 21.