TASHKENT, December 5 /TASS/. Uzbekistan’s President-elect Shavkat Mirziyoyev, speaking in Russian, thanked international observers from over 40 countries for monitoring yesterday’s presidential election held in the Central Asian country.

"I would like to thank the monitors and prominent international organizations for actively participating and monitoring the elections and also for their great attention to democratic transformations in Uzbekistan," Mirziyoyev said in a speech delivered at a ceremony at the Uzexpocentre on Monday.

Over 5,000 people carrying national flags and symbols of the Liberal Democratic Party had assembled to greet the newly-elected president.

On Monday, Uzbekistan’s Central Electoral Commission published the election results, which revealed that Mirziyoyev had garnered 88.61% of the votes.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev was born on July 24, 1957 to a family of a TB doctor in the Zaamin township in Soviet Uzbekistan.

In 1981, he graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration (now the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Mechanization of Agriculture). He holds a PhD in Technological Sciences. In 1981-1992, Mirziyoyev worked at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration.

In 1990, Mirziyoyev was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Uzbekistan;

In 1994, he became a deputy of the country’s new parliament (Oliy Majilis). He was re-elected to Oliy Majilis in 1999.

In 1992, Mirziyoyev became the administration chief of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent. In 1996-1999, he was the administrative head of the Dzhiazsky region of Uzbekistan. In 2001-2003, he headed the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan.

On December 11, 2003, the Uzbek parliament appointed Mirziyoyev the country’s prime minister. He was re-appointed to that post another three times. A year later, Mirziyoyev became a member of the Political Council of the UzLiDeP pro-government party, which was created in Uzbekistan in 2004.

Mirziyoyev became Uzbekistan’s acting president after President Islam Karimov’s had passed away this past September.