Uzbekistan Set For Elections Sunday

From Nor Faridah Abd Rashid TASHKENT, Dec 22 (Bernama) -- Uzbekistan is set to hold its Parliamentary Elections on Sunday amid an enhanced Central Election Commission (CEC) which has been granted the status of a constitutional body. According to Chairman of the Uzbekistan's CEC Mirza-Ulugbek Abdulsalomov, the status meant the CEC had a special role in the government system and would ensure that preparations and holding of elections with no interference of other government bodies. "This became yet another crucial guarantee of the comprehensive safeguard of the democratic nature, openness and transparency of the elections," he said at a briefing for international and foreign observers at the National Press Centre here Saturday. Abdulsalomov pointed out that activities in the framework of election campaign were being held openly and transparently in strict compliance with the legislation, including arrangements for advance voting for voters who could not be present at their place of residence on elections day. Early voting was from Dec 11 to 19. "In cases where individual voters, because of their health or other reasons cannot come to the polling station, precinct election commission will arrange for them to vote at the place where they are staying," he said. Abdulsalomov said that during the campaign period, political parties and their candidates were provided broad and equal opportunities to make use of the media. The campaign started on Nov 15 and ended on Friday. He explained that they were provided equal amount of air time on state television and radio channels as well as equal amount of print space in the national and local press. To ensure transparency and openness of the elections, he said 300 observers from over 50 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and America had been invited, apart from thousands of local observers, to monitor the elections. Malaysia was also invited to send observers. Its delegation led by Election Commission (EC) Deputy Chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah arrived on Friday. Other members of the Malaysian delegation include the EC's former deputy chairman, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, who is currently special officer at the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, EC division secretary (data analyst) Syed Ahmad Bashah Syed Anwar, senior lawyer and Gandhi Memorial Trust Malaysia chairman S. Radhakrishnan and Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute Senior Vice-President Max Say. Organisations like the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Association of World Election Bodies the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) were also invited as observers. Abdulsalomov also underscored the importance of the media in the elections coverage, describing the media as an important tool in the democratisation process to ensure transparency, noting that it was the media which would relay the election activities to the society and the public. Some 340 local and foreign media are taking part in the elections coverage. Meanwhile, he said that the list of voters stood at 20,789,572 citizens, while 9,035 polling stations had been set up with 44 of them being at Uzbekistan’s representative offices in foreign countries. A total of 135 constituencies, for an average of 154,000 voters in one district, have been created, he added. During the elections, some 535 candidates from four parties namely - the Liberal Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival), and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice) are contesting for 135 seats in the Legislative Chamber Oliy Majlis (lower house of Uzbek parliament). Under the election law a total of 15 seats are allocated for the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan in the lower house. Diplomatic relations between Uzbekistan, which has a population of over 31 million, with Malaysia began in 1992, a year after the republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. -- BERNAMA