Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Feb. 17
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
Presidential candidates in Uzbekistan started the pre-election campaign on Feb. 17.
The election campaign as part of the presidential election began in Uzbekistan on December 26, 2014.
Four candidates from four political parties have been to date elected and registered with Uzbekistan's Central Election Commission (CEC).
They are the incumbent president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov - from the Liberal Democratic Party; the member of the parliamentary faction, chairman of the committee for democratic institutions, NGOs and citizens' self-government bodies, Akmal Saidov - from the National Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish; the chairman of the Central Council of the People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (PDPU) Hotamzhon Ketmonov - from the PDPU, the chairman of the executive committee of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Adolat, Narimon Umarov - from SDP.
Under the decision of the CEC, all the candidates, during the pre-election campaigning, are given and provided with equal rights for the use of the media.
In particular, the TV and radio channels of Uzbekistan's National Television and Radio Company provides the nominees with 900 minutes of free airtime, and it is planned to air video and radio materials about the candidates, and their election programs.
Aside from that, the country's newspapers such as Halk Suzi, The Truth of the Orient also provide up to 10 free pages for agitation of each presidential candidate.
The candidates are free to determine the types, forms, methods and content of the materials of the pre-election drive in the media.
The political parties' information services said their candidates travel to regions to meet with voters, where they present their pre-election programs.
The presidential election in Uzbekistan is scheduled for March 29, 2015.
The previous presidential elections were held in Uzbekistan in 2007.
Edited by CN