Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Nov. 29
By Demir Azizov– Trend:
The mission of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) started its work on monitoring the presidential election in Uzbekistan Nov. 29, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) told Trend.
The mission includes 20 representatives of the legislative, executive and electoral authorities of the SCO member states, as well as officials of the SCO Secretariat.
SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov heads the observer mission.
During their monitoring activity, the observers plan to visit the greatest possible number of polling stations in all electoral districts of Uzbekistan.
The SCO observers will conclude their work by announcing a statement on the results of the monitoring of the preparation and conduct of the election.
The conclusions will be based on the SCO mission’s own observations, official information, factual material provided by the electoral commissions and public authorities, which ensure the preparation and conduct of the election, data obtained from interviews with the participants of the electoral process, as well as screening questionnaires.
More than 80,000 local observers and nearly 600 international ones will be monitoring the election in Uzbekistan. Currently, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the CIS missions started their work.
The missions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) are expected to arrive in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan is to hold an early presidential election December 4 due to the death of ex-president Islam Karimov, who passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 79 on Sept. 2.
Candidates from four political parties of Uzbekistan participate in the presidential election - Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), People's Democratic Party (PDPU), Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) Party, and Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party.
Among the presidential candidates are the country’s Acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev from UzLiDeP, Sarvar Otamuratov from Milly Tiklanish Party, Nariman Umarov from Adolat Party, and Hotamzhon Ketmonov from PDPU.