Observers Impressed With Uzbekistan's Smooth Parliamentary Elections

From: Nor Faridah Abd Rashid TASHKENT, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Uzbekitan’s parliamentary elections 2014 ended officially with observers impressed with the smooth running of the election process which was smooth without any hitches or violations of any law or legislation. Uzbekistan Central Election Commission (CEC) chairman Mirza-Ulugbek Abdulsalomov announced the result of the elections at a briefing cum press conference for the media and international and foreign observers Monday. The election saw some 535 candidates from four parties, namely the Liberal Democratic Party, People's Democratic Party, Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival), and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) contesting for 135 seats in the Legislative Chamber Oily Majlis (Lower House of Uzbek parliament). Under the election law, a total of 15 seats have been allocated for the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, in view of the significant environmental challenges faced by the country. Abdulsalomov announced that the Liberal Democratic Party, which won the most seats (47) will nominate the candidate for the country’s prime minister, a system which was introduced for the first time for political parties. The elections on Sunday was an important event for Uzbeks following various amendments to the country's constitution initiated by President Islam Karamov to move the country with more than 31 million population towards more democratisation. The president has given more powers to Parliament now compared to previously. Some 18 million or over 88 per cent of Uzbeks cast their votes. Listed voters stood at more than 20 million. Abdulsalomov said that the transparency and openness of the electoral process was further boosted with the presence of foreign observers who were invited to monitor the elections and this time some 300 observers from over 50 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and America were invited while thousands of local observers and the political parties' representatives also monitored the election. Five organisations including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was also invited apart from some 345 local and foreign media invited to report broadly on the elections and objectively. Malaysian Election Commission (EC) Deputy Chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah, who led the Malaysian delegation, said that he observed that the people of Uzbekistan gave full confidence to its Election Commission. “They give full support and trust on the Election Commission,” said Mohd Hashim who is a first time observer of the Uzbekistan elections. He said that the elections went on smoothly and calmly. Wan Ahmad, who was one of the Malaysian observers during the 2009 parliamentary elections, noticed the “seriousness” of party representatives during his visits to the polling stations. “I can see from their faces, their seriousness that they know their rights. Even the media this time eagerly wanted to see what is happening. This is an improvement or something different from the previous elections which I attended," he said. An observer from Geneva, Guy Mettan, who visited several polling stations, said that the election process was efficient. He observed that the voting sheets were very clear and transparent. ”If the vote sheets are very complicated, it would be a problem for voters,” said the MP of the Geneva Parliament, who is also Executive Director of the Geneva Press Club. OIC Director, Political Affairs Department, Ambassador Ali Abdolhassani, said the OIC did not see any irregularities during the elections. He noted the massive turnout of voters which he said indicated the political maturity of the people of Uzbekistan. -- BERNAMA