H.E. Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan will be held according to the international requirements.
The upcoming parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan, scheduled for December 22, 2019 will be transparently taking into account international requirements, which are fully taken into account by the Election Code which adopted in June. This was announced on October 21, 2019 by Mirzo-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
“During the development of the code, the experience of more than 50 countries was studied. I especially want to emphasize the consideration of the recommendations of the missions of international election observation organizations, including the OSCE/ODIHR, SCO, CIS, the World Association of Electoral Bodies, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, proposals of the Venice Commission, as well as international electoral principles and standards, “said Abdusalomov.
According to him, the Electoral Code, the adoption of which was initiated by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, brought together the norms of nearly 30 previously existing legislative documents, including five laws regulating relations related to the preparation and conduct of elections of the country’s president, deputies of the Legislative Chamber, members of the Senate, deputies regional, district and city kengashes that regulated the activities of the CEC, as well as guarantees ensuring the free expression of the will of citizens.
In accordance with the Electoral Code, election commissions are now authorized to consider complaints from individuals and legal entities about violations of suffrage, conduct checks on these complaints and give written answers within three days. Moreover, the election commissions are obliged to respond to appeals received less than six days before the election or on election day.
The Electoral Code also excluded the restriction on the participation in elections of persons held in prison for crimes that do not constitute a great public danger.
“I want to emphasize the strengthening of public control and the expansion of the powers of civil society institutions during the elections. Now, along with political parties, representatives of self-government bodies have also been given the opportunity to observe the elections, this will enhance transparency and public accountability of the electoral process,” Abdusalomov said. In his opinion, the fact that the Electoral Code establishes a 30 percent quota for women when nominating candidates for deputies is of great importance.
Unified Electronic Voter List
An important innovation of the launched election campaign was the unified electronic voter list (EESI), which currently includes 20.5 million citizens of Uzbekistan. EESI will allow the formation of a single electoral portal, allowing the electorate to receive all the election data on the CEC website. Work in this direction by the CEC began about a year ago after the adoption of a decree of the president of the country on measures to introduce modern information and communication technologies in the electoral process.
“When developing this innovative election mechanism, foreign experience in this direction was thoroughly studied,” the CEC head noted. According to him, other information technologies are also planned for the parliamentary elections. This is an electronic database of constituencies and precincts, members of their commissions with the subsequent publication of this information on the official website of the CEC, an electronic database of candidates for deputies of all levels, an interactive map of constituencies and precincts, an official website and social networks.
The Saylov-2019 mobile application (“Elections-2019”) has already been created, which contains regulations, information on election commissions, guidelines, training materials, etc. A call center is available at the CEC international press center where you can get answer to any questions about the election. All this will make the upcoming elections as open and transparent as possible.
In the parliamentary elections and local representative bodies, which will be held under the motto “New Uzbekistan – New Elections,” it is planned to form over 16 thousand electoral districts and precincts, including more than 50 outside of Uzbekistan.
In accordance with the Electoral Code, election campaigning is not allowed the day before the election and directly on election day.
The Electoral Code of Uzbekistan does not provide for the organization of exit polls. The upcoming expression of the will of the people will be considered valid if at least 33% of those included in the voter lists take part in it. To win the election, candidates will need to get 50% plus one vote.
In accordance with the Electoral Code, the first session of the Legislative Chamber of a new composition should be held no later than two months after the election.
Parliamentary elections will be held with the strengthening of the positions of political parties
Elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of Uzbekistan, scheduled for December 22, 2019 will be held with a significant strengthening of the positions of political parties, said Mirzo-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
“Now, according to the Electoral Code, only political parties have the right to nominate candidates for deputies of parliament and local representative bodies, earlier they could nominate their own candidates and initiative groups, and local self-government bodies in regional, district and city Kengashes (Soviets),” – said Abdusalomov. According to him, political parties also have broad powers to monitor the election process.
According to the head of the Central Election Commission, in accordance with the Electoral Code, all five officially registered political parties in Uzbekistan have already signed up and received access to the elections. Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People – Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP), Democratic Party Milliy Tiklanish (National Revival), Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice), People’s Democratic Party (PDPU) and Ecological party of Uzbekistan.
According to Abdusalomov, the authorities have allocated significant resources for training participants in the electoral process with all the innovations laid down in the new legislation. Thus, over 170 thousand people are involved in the training program, who are in the reserve for election by members of election commissions at all levels. For them, as well as judges of administrative judges and specialists of information and communication technologies, cycles of seminars and trainings are held. Such a large-scale and systematic training before the elections is held in the country for the first time.
More than 600 foreign observers to come to parliament in Uzbekistan
Monitoring of the elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of Uzbekistan scheduled for December 22 this year will be conducted by more than 600 observers from about 50 states and international organizations, said Mirzo-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
“We expect that more than 600 foreign observers from about 50 states of America, Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as from all international organizations of the world whose activities are related to election monitoring will conduct monitoring of the election campaign and the elections themselves. For example, the OSCE/ODIHR plans to send the upcoming election is a mission of almost 300 observers from the Central Executive Committee of Russia and the CIS Parliamentary Assembly that they are ready to participate in the elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis. these assemblies of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, representatives of a number of independent civil society institutions from the United States”, said Abdusalomov. According to him, during the election campaign that has begun and directly on the day of voting, there will not be a single polling station closed to foreign observers.
According to the head of the CEC, if someone from foreign observers wants to visit a polling station located, for example, in a women’s colony, he will have to inform the Central Election Commission in advance. “We will coordinate this issue with the competent authorities. For this is primarily due to the safety of observers – this is customary throughout the world,” he said. The so-called long-term observers are expected to arrive in the republic in mid-November, and short-term observers a few days before election day.
As Abdusalomov also said, in time for and without significant violations, they signed up and received admission to the upcoming elections all five officially registered political parties in the republic.
These are the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People – the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP), the Democratic Party Milliy Tiklanish (National Revival), the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice), the People’s Democratic Party (PDPU) and Ecological Party of Uzbekistan. In accordance with the Electoral Code, all conditions have been created in the republic for propaganda of their election programs and bringing their essence to the electorate.
