VOTING BEGINS IN UZBEKISTAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Sun 24 October 2021:

On Sunday, Uzbekistan will elect its president for the next five years, with incumbent Shavkat Mirziyoyev widely anticipated to defeat four opponents and earn a second term.

This is the first presidential election after the death in December 2016 of Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s first president, who controlled the Central Asian country for 27 years. Mirziyoyev was elected in the same month after receiving 88.61 percent of the vote against his three opponents.

Over 21.26 million registered voters will cast ballots at 10,760 polling locations on Sunday, which will open at 8 a.m. local time and close at 8 p.m. (0300-1500GMT).

For the election to be considered valid under the law, turnout must exceed 33%.

With a high turnout seen as a badge of legitimacy, officials are working hard to bring out voters.

As well as billboards and a stream of SMS messages urging people to go to the polls, volunteers are calling on households to urge the electorate to do its civic duty.

For any candidate to win the election, he must get more than half of the votes, or else the top two candidates will go to a second round.

Nearly 1,000 international observers from over 50 states are following the election, as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Turkic Council, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

More than 1,700 local and foreign journalists will follow the polls.

Under the law, citizens of the country fluent in Uzbek language who are over 35 and have lived in the country continuously for the last decade can seek the presidency.

Human Rights Watch said this month that officials “harassed (Allakulov’s) party supporters and interfered in their efforts to collect signatures for registration”.

Mirziyoyev’s predicted victory will allow him to deepen his largely successful reform campaign and likely lead to Uzbekistan opening up further to foreign trade and investment – while retaining a highly centralised political system.

FILE PHOTO

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