The embassy of Uzbekistan in Turkmenistan hosted a briefing on 30 September 2024 on the forthcoming elections of the parliament of Uzbekistan.
Here is the transcript of the briefing conducted by Uktam Nazarov, the Charge de’Affaires of Uzbekistan:
In accordance with Article 128 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Kengashes of People’s Deputies are held in the year of expiration of their term of office – on the first Sunday of the third decade of October.
Taking into account the expiration of the term of office of the deputies of the Oliy Majlis and Kengashes of People’s Deputies in 2024, a resolution of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Republic of Uzbekistan was adopted to hold elections on October 27 and begin the election campaign on July 26 of this year.
It should be noted that it is of particular importance that the upcoming elections are taking place in a completely new socio-political environment, defined by the Constitution.
The uniqueness of the upcoming elections is as follows:
Firstly, elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis will be held for the first time in the history of Uzbekistan on the basis of a mixed, that is, majoritarian-proportional electoral system.
Thus, 75 deputies will be elected directly by the majoritarian system, when voters vote for specific candidates, and the remaining 75 will be elected by the proportional system by voting for political parties.
Secondly, the activities of election commissions at all levels, their interaction with participants in the election processes were completely digitalized. Thus, bureaucracy, excessive time wastage and unnecessary paperwork were minimized in election procedures.
Thirdly, the electoral legislation has been completely improved in accordance with advanced democratic standards. In particular, a new system of electoral bodies headed by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan has been introduced. It has been determined that women should make up at least 40% of the number of candidates nominated for deputies by political parties. In addition, it has been established that to be elected as a deputy it is sufficient to receive the votes of a relative majority of voters. Accordingly, a candidate is considered elected if he or she receives more votes than other candidates in the relevant constituency, and, as a result, there is no need to hold a repeat vote.
Fourthly, the elections will be held in the context of a significant strengthening of parliamentarism and the powers of local representative bodies, as enshrined in the updated Constitution. In particular, the absolute powers of the Legislative Chamber have been increased from the current 5 to 12, and of the Senate – from 12 to 18. The control functions of parliament over the activities of executive, judicial, law enforcement agencies and special services have been expanded. The institution of khokims managing local Kengashes of People’s Deputies is being abolished. In order to increase the role of representative bodies in resolving important issues of state life, 33 powers previously under the jurisdiction of khokims have been transferred to local Kengashes.
The upcoming elections are an example of democratic statehood in Uzbekistan and are of great importance in the implementation of the constitutional rights of citizens to elect and be elected, and to participate in the democratic formation of state bodies.
The elections will elect 150 deputies of the Legislative Chamber, 65 deputies of the Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, as well as deputies of regional, Tashkent and 208 district (city) Kengashes. Thus, the active participation of about 30 thousand candidates and about 90 thousand of their authorized representatives, as well as the participation of more than 120 thousand members of election commissions as organizers and more than 70 thousand local and foreign (international) observers are expected in the election process.
Considering the important role of elections in the life of the state and in order to widely involve citizens in this process, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan announced the holding of elections on October 27 under the motto “My choice is my prosperous Motherland”.
A technological innovation in the conduct of the upcoming elections is the introduction of the “E-saylov” information system.
Through “E-saylov”, about 60 types of interaction between election commissions and political parties, candidates, observers and the media will be carried out entirely electronically.
This electronic system, being integrated with other electronic platforms, allows for the implementation of electoral procedures automatically, without the influence of the human factor.
This system will form a large information base of about 400 thousand participants in the election process, namely members of election commissions, candidates for deputies, observers. 32 thousand participants in the election process will use this information system professionally. Communication with users will be established using 40 types of SMS notifications.
The E-saylov information system also implements a number of conveniences for citizens in obtaining information related to elections.
In particular, E-saylov allows obtaining statistical information about voters and polling stations, information about candidates
for deputies in all types of elections, and familiarizing oneself with candidates for deputies and their biographical data through interactive maps.
E-saylov information system takes elections to a completely new level in terms of technology and openness.
The Center for Operational Information – “Call-center” was created and its charter was approved. Through the “Call-center” citizens’ requests will be centrally received, who will receive legal explanations and consultations in real time.
The main objectives of the Call Center are to establish a dialogue with citizens in real time during the election campaign, to provide the population with complete and reliable information about the activities of the commissions, the stages of the election process, to create the necessary conditions for the unconditional implementation of citizens’ rights to vote and appeal, as well as to increase their level of awareness of electoral legislation and election processes.
According to Article 37 of the Electoral Code, political parties have the right to nominate candidates to the Legislative Chamber and local Kengashes.
To participate in elections, political parties must be registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan no less than four months before the date of the announcement of the start of the election campaign and must collect signatures of at least 40 thousand voters supporting the party’s participation in the elections.
Thus, the following political parties will participate in the upcoming elections of deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and local Kengashes:
– Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People – Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan;
– Democratic Party of Uzbekistan “Milliy Tiklanish”;
– Ecological Party of Uzbekistan;
– People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan;
– Social Democratic Party “Adolat”.
In accordance with the resolution of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, pre-election campaigning of candidates for deputies and political parties began on September 22, 2024.
The interest of foreign countries and international organizations in the elections to representative bodies of state power, which will be held this year in accordance with the updated electoral legislation, is extremely high.
In particular, it is expected that more than 1,000 international and foreign observers will participate in monitoring the elections, including about 400 from 50 countries, about 500 from 21 international organizations, such as the CIS, OSCE/ODIHR, SCO, UTC, and another 60 from election commissions of 26 foreign countries.
It should be noted that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights intends to participate in the observation of the elections in Uzbekistan with a full-scale mission consisting
of a core group, long-term and short-term observers, a total of about 350 observers.
The great interest of foreign states and international organizations in the elections in Uzbekistan testifies to the recognition by the international community of the democratic reforms carried out in our country.
In accordance with this, at a meeting of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a decision was made to accredit observers from international organizations who will participate in the elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and local Kengashes, and some observers from the CIS, the CIS IPA, the OSCE ODIHR, etc. were accredited.
Today, foreign and international organizations wishing to accredit observers can, while in their country, log into the E-Saylov information system and electronically enter data of a certain type and submit it for review.
Another notable aspect of this process is that new samples of mandates for accredited foreign observers are automatically generated electronically through this system.
In accordance with the resolution of the Central Election Commission of August 26, 2024, polling stations were created at diplomatic and other missions of the Republic of Uzbekistan in foreign countries to conduct elections of deputies to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan in a single electoral district.
In particular, 56 polling stations have been created in 39 countries, which are attached to the territory of the city of Tashkent. In particular, at the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Turkmenistan (Ashgabat, Gerogly Street 50-A), polling station No. 43 has been created, in which citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan, temporarily and permanently residing in Turkmenistan, will be able to exercise their civil rights and vote in the parliamentary elections of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Early voting will be organized from October 17 to October 23, 2024 for citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan who, for one reason or another, cannot vote on October 27, 2024 at their place of residence.
For citizens of Uzbekistan abroad, the website saylov.mfa.uz has been launched, which allows them to submit an application electronically for inclusion in the voter list without the need to register with the consulate.
Also, as an additional convenience, citizens can change their chosen polling station on an extraterritorial basis through this platform. /// nCa, 1 October 2024