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Uzbekistan holds polls under pro-reform leader
TASHKENT, Dec 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Uzbekistan votes Sunday in its first
parliamentary election since a new leader ushered in an era of reform after
years of isolation and authoritarian rule.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took charge of Central Asia’s most populous
country in 2016 after the death of hardline predecessor and former patron
Islam Karimov, who had ruled for almost three decades.
Mirziyoyev has been lauded for doing away with many of Karimov’s
authoritarian excesses, releasing some political prisoners, battling forced
labour and opening up the landlocked state to tourism and foreign investment.
But choices on the ballot in the former Soviet republic are few — all
five parties competing are represented in the outgoing parliament.
Muslim-majority but staunchly secular Uzbekistan is home to 33 million
people, over 20 million of whom can vote.
The polls open at 8:00 am (0300 GMT) and close 12 hours later.
– Rubber stamp –
Britain’s influential magazine The Economist this week named Uzbekistan as
its country of the year, saying “no other country travelled so far” in 2019.
Yet the reform drive has so far not allowed real competition to
Mirziyoyev, 62, to develop.
The 150-member lower house where no party has ever achieved a commanding
majority has a long-earned rubber stamp reputation.
Currently the Liberal Democratic Party is the largest in the legislature
with 52 seats, followed by Milli Tiklanish, known in English as the National
Revival Democratic Party, with 36.
The People’s Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party also known as
Adolat and the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan are also represented there.
Residents of the capital Tashkent said they wanted to see more from their
elected officials and voiced concerns they would not have dared express under
Karimov. Shahzod Alikulov, a builder, said the future parliament should ease
the burden of the majority-rural population who feel the sharp end of energy
shortages. “For people to have gas, electricity, roads. That is what I will
give my vote for,” he told AFP.
– ‘New Uzbekistan?’ –
The elections are being held under the slogan “New Uzbekistan, new
elections” as authorities seek to brand them as the latest example of a
newfound openness.
But the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which
is sending an observer mission to the polls, has said many features of past
votes remain in place.
“Very few campaign posters are visible,” the group’s pre-election report
said.
“So far, very little evidence of outdoor campaign activities has been
observed.”
Karimov was often criticised by international watchdogs over torture and
forced labour allegations.
Mirziyoyev has continued to honour Karimov publicly, but has been credited
with eradicating much of the slavery in the country’s cotton sector and
lifting Uzbekistan out of isolation.
Luca Anceschi, a senior lecturer in Central Asian Studies at the
University of Glasgow, said it was too early to say whether the vote holds
any significance in the broader context of Uzbekistan’s political
transformation.
Popular participation in the poll “seems a crucial element of Mirziyoyev’s
strategy of support building”, Anceschi told AFP.
As to whether parliament can evolve as an institution, he said, “the jury
is out”.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0819 hrs