Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 17
By Demir Azizov - Trend:
Uzbekistan is ready to hold elections to the legislative chamber of the parliament (Oliy Majlis) Dec. 21, the Chairman of Uzbekistan's Central Election Commission (CEC) Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov said Dec. 17.
He made the remarks at a briefing for the diplomatic corps, representatives of international organizations accredited as observers, and the media.
"The activity program for preparation and holding of elections, adopted in May, allowed organizing the entire electoral process at a high democracy level, to provide conditions for full realization of the citizens' electoral rights and the active participation of political parties in the formation of public bodies," he said.
He said some 135 constituencies, for an average of 154,000 voters in one district, have been created.
Abdusalomov also said that some 9,035 polling stations have been created as well, with 44 of them being at Uzbekistan's representative offices in foreign countries.
Precinct election commissions have made the complete lists of voters - a total of 20, 789,572 citizens. All the voters have been informed about the place and date of voting. The voters that are not able to be in the place of residence on the election day, have the right of early voting on Dec.11-19.
The political parties participating in the elections have equal rights in benefiting from media during the pre-election campaign that started on Nov.15, CEC head said.
"The transparency and openness of the elections are ensured by the institute of observers," Abdusalomov added.
Currently, the mission of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the observers' mission from CIS are operating in Uzbekistan. Moreover, observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will join them soon.
Additionally, the CEC has registered around 300 observers from almost 40 countries. Over 340 representatives of the national and foreign media outlets will take part in covering the elections.
The preliminary results of the elections will be announced on Dec.22.
Earlier, four political parties of Uzbekistan were allowed to take part in the election.
These are the Liberal Democratic Party, People's Democratic Party, the Democratic Party Milly Tiklanish (National Revival), and the Social Democratic Party Adolat (Justice).
Each of them nominated 135 MP candidates in accordance with the number of electoral districts.
Uzbekistan's bicameral parliament was created in 2005. Its legislative chamber permanently employs 150 MPs from four political parties and the Uzbek Ecological Movement. They were elected in Dec. 2009 for a five-year period.
The MPs from the Ecological Movement will be elected at a conference on Dec. 21.
The parliament's upper house, known as the Senate, employs 100 MPs elected in equal numbers, i.e. six MPs from the Karakalpakstan Republic, regions and the city of Tashkent.
Aside from that, 16 members of the Senate are appointed by the Uzbek president from among the most distinguished citizens.
Edited by CN