TASHKENT, December 21. /TASS/. International observers who are monitoring parliamentary elections on Sunday say good preparatory work had been done to organize the polls.
“I have closely wantched the process of election at a number of polling stations in Tashkent.
It is obvious that all the polling stations I visited had organized the process at a proper level. All necessary conditions were created for both voters and observers. The process of voter registration was organized in a good way. Members of local election commission answer all questions of voters, who express their will freely and openly,” Irina Rodnina, a member of the committee for the affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, said.
She said she had visited Uzbekistan long time ago and now the country “has changed considerably.” She said she was sure “friendly relations between our countries will only grow stronger.”
This point of view was shared by another observer, Vladimir Vachishin of the Pan-European UNivesrity (Slovakia). “Good preparatory work has been done at polling stations. It is clearly seen at a polling station I visited. I saw it with mu own eye that voters were making free choice.”
“We have seen that the process (elections) has been thoroughly prepared,” said Datuk Seri Muhammad Hashim, a deputy chairman of Malaysia’s Central Election Commission. He also praised Uzbekistan’s authorities for their efforts to encourage public and political activity of voters.
CIS observers: parliamentary polls proceed in line with general democratic norms
Elections in Uzbekistan are proceeding smoothly in strict conformity with the country’s laws and generally recognized democratic procedures, Sergey Lebedev, the head of an observer mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and CIS executive secretary, said on Sunday.
“The elections are proceeding in line with Uzbekistan’s laws and generally recognized democratic procedures. So, we all share the opinion that the elections were properly organized and are proceeding smoothly,” he told journalists while visiting a polling station in Tashkent.
He said representatives of eight CIS states had been monitoring the voting since early morning. “The impression I and my colleagues have and information I am receiving are positive. Rather high voted activity was reported by noon. We see a festival atmosphere, which is typical of elections in Uzbekistan,” he noted.
The CIS observer mission includes 76 observers from eight countries of the Commonwealth and from the CIS executive committee. On December 18, the mission issued an interim report that included preliminary results of the monitoring of preparations for the parliamentary elections in a period from December 8 to December 17, 2014.
Uzbek voters will elect 135 deputies in one-seat constituencies according to the majority election system.
The following parties and movements have nominated 535 candidates to the lower house of the Uzbek parliament: the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People - the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan /135/; the Social-Democratic Party “Adolat” (132); the Democratic Party of Uzbekistan “Milliy Tiklanish” (134); the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (134). Women make up 31.8% of the total number of registered candidates.
The elections are monitored by observers from missions of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); the Association of World Election Bodies and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Besides, the Central Electoral Commission registered about 300 monitors from almost 40 countries representing Asia, Europe, Africa, America and the Commonwealth. District electoral commissions have issued relevant mandates to more than 70,000 observers and authorized representatives of political parties that take part in elections.
The elections will be considered valid if more than 33% of registered voters take part in them. A winning candidate should gain more than half of the votes in his favour. If none of the candidates gets the necessary number of votes, the second round of elections will take place in two week’s time.
Preliminary vote results will be announced on Monday.
The previous elections to the legislative chamber of the Uzbek parliament took place in two rounds - on December 27, 2009 and on January 10, 2010.