Uzbekistan votes in poll expected to re-elect Karimov

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan – Polling stations opened Sunday, March 29, in the ex-Soviet state of Uzbekistan for a ballot that is almost certain to re-elect 77-year-old strongman incumbent President Islam Karimov. 

Voting at more than 9,000 polling stations across the country began at 0100 GMT and will continue until 1500 GMT, according to the country’s central election commission.

Karimov, who has ruled the country since before the collapse of the Soviet Union, faces 3 other opponents put forward by parties in the Uzbek parliament that are openly supportive of his presidency.

Akmal Saidov, put forward by the Democratic National Renaissance Party, faced Karimov in the country’s last presidential poll in 2007, but claimed less than 3% of the vote as Karimov took close to 90%. 

Hotamjon Ketmonov, the chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, and Nariman Umarov, who leads the Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan Adolat (Justice) are the other two candidates on the ballot.

Almost 21 million people are eligible to vote in the most populous of the 5 former communist Central Asian countries that gained independence in 1991, according to the central election commission. 

Exit polls are banned under Uzbekistan’s restrictive laws while a turnout of 33% is required for election results to be considered legitimate by the commission.

More than 300 international observers from 43 different countries are participating in the vote. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is expected to provide its assessment of the ballot on Monday.

A further 44 polling stations will be open during the day at Uzbek diplomatic representations abroad, including in Russia, where at least two million Uzbeks work as migrant laborers according to Russia’s Federal Migration Service.

‘Stability’

The candidates began a low-key campaign on February 17 in which Karimov stressed stability for the country that shares a 137-kilometre (mile) border with war-torn Afghanistan to the south.

Karimov has had to contend with rumors of illness and physical frailty but appeared healthy last weekend when dancing at celebrations of the Nowruz state holiday marking the beginning of spring on March 21.

“What do Uzbek people need? We need peace and well being,” Karimov told the crowd at the Nowruz celebration.

During another appearance before a small group of voters in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Wednesday Karimov said that “there will be chaos in society” without a “strong government”, adding that “the time will come” for greater freedoms in Uzbekistan, in comments aired by Uzbek state media.

Karimov’s view has been endorsed by the other three candidates, none of whom has openly called on voters to opt for them instead of the incumbent president.

Karimov has continually stressed the danger posed by Islamic radicals based in Afghanistan, some of whom are ethnic Uzbeks.

“If we retain stability in Uzbekistan we secure order in the entire Central Asian region,” Rafik Sayfullin, a political analyst based in Tashkent, told Agence France-Presse. “Let these elections pass normally so that we can keep the same team.”

Strategically located Uzbekistan is a close partner to both Russia and China and has also provided support to the US-led military operation in Afghanistan.

The presidential vote will complete a political cycle for the country of more than 30 million people, after parliamentary elections took place in December. – Rappler.com