Parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan 2004/05
The parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan 2004/05 were held on December 26, 2004 with a runoff election on January 9, 2005 in the Republic of Uzbekistan . The 120 MPs were elected in the legislative lower house in the bicameral system of Uzbekistan.
Electoral system
In the course of a referendum in 2002, the structure of the Oliy Majlis , the Uzbek parliament, was fundamentally changed. After it had previously consisted of 250 members in a one-chamber system , a two-chamber system was introduced after the referendum. In addition to the legislative lower house with 120 directly elected members, the Senate was set up with 100 members. The members of the lower house were elected every five years by majority vote, with one mandate being awarded in 120 constituencies. The victorious candidate had to collect 50% of the votes cast in his constituency. If none of the candidates succeeded, there was a runoff on January 9, 2005 between the two most successful candidates in the first round.
Parties and candidates
In the 2004/05 parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan, five parties ran, all of which were classified as loyal to President Islom Karimov .
People's Democratic Party
The People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan is the successor party to the Communist Party in Uzbekistan, but after its dissolution it experienced a profound change in political orientation. The party supports the economic reforms initiated in Uzbekistan, but advocates the protection and interests of the socially disadvantaged in the country and calls for more social security for the residents of Uzbekistan.
Adolat
Adolat is a party with a social democratic orientation . She cooperates with trade unions in Uzbekistan and campaigns for the rights of Uzbek workers.
Milliy Tiklanish
The Milliy Tiklanish party works to strengthen national traditions and culture. At the same time, it calls for greater cooperation with neighboring countries in Central Asia with the vision of a large Turkestan state.
Fidocorlar
The Fidokorlar party primarily represents the interests of Uzbekistan's new elite and supports the economic opening of Uzbekistan and further economic reforms for the former Soviet republic.
Liberal Democratic Party
The Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan was only founded in 2003, but before the election after the People's Democratic Party it was already the party with the largest number of members in the country. The emergence of the party was actively promoted by President Karimov, who built the party as a conservative center-right party and eventually established it as the new ruling party. In terms of content, the party stands for a market economy with a strong legal system .
Opposition parties
The country's larger opposition parties, Erk and Birlik, were excluded from the election. Erk was banned in 1992 and called for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections at a conference in 2003. Birlik tried to register for the parliamentary election, but several of the party's applications were rejected by the electoral authorities due to formal errors, so that the opposition Birlik could not run for the election either.
Candidates of the parties
For the election, a quota of women of 30% was prescribed for the candidates of the parties. All parties only slightly exceeded this fixed quota.
| Political party | nominated candidates | Proportion of women |
|---|---|---|
| People's Democratic Party | 108 | 30.5% |
| Adolat | 71 | 36.1% |
| Milliy Tiklanish | 58 | 32.8% |
| Fidocorlar | 84 | 32.6% |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 114 | 32.7% |
In terms of the number of nominees, only the People's Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party managed to put forward a candidate in almost all of the 120 electoral districts. The nomination of independent candidates was officially possible, but required a large number of signatures and a great deal of formal effort, which was compounded by the negative attitude of the government-loyal authorities. Because of these restrictions, independent candidates played little role in the election.
Election campaign
A real election campaign was made impossible on the one hand by the exclusion of the opposition from the election and on the other hand by the restrictive right to vote, which completely prohibited open-air events as part of the election campaign and only permitted other election campaign events with the express approval of the electoral authorities. Candidates were able to introduce themselves to voters at events organized by the authorities. In addition, the candidates were provided with standardized election posters containing, among other things, a photo of the candidate and information on his or her résumé .
Result
After the second ballot on January 9, 2005, the result was the following:
| Political party | Mandates after the first ballot | Total mandates |
|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democratic Party | 21st | 41 |
| People's Democratic Party | 18th | 28 |
| Fidocorlar | 9 | 18th |
| Milliy Tiklanish | 6th | 11 |
| Adolat | 2 | 10 |
| Independent | 6th | 12 |
| total | 62 | 120 |
The turnout in the first ballot was given as 85.1%. At the provincial level, voter turnout was highest in Jizzax Province with 88.6% and lowest in Navoiy Province with 80.5%. A total of 12,197,159 votes were cast in the parliamentary elections.
rating
In the run-up to the election, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) sent a needs assessment mission. This found minimal improvements compared to previous elections in Uzbekistan, but also emphasized that the election did not meet the OSCE's standards for democratic elections by far. The main reason for this was the suppression of the opposition parties and the hindrance of independent candidates, which made open political competition impossible. At the recommendation of the needs assessment mission, a scaled-down observation mission was sent on the occasion of the first round of parliamentary elections. This observation mission also criticized the expulsion of the opposition and saw a need for improvement in dealing with journalists and members of the opposition . In addition, an improvement in the electoral process and more transparency on the part of the electoral authorities were called for, as numerous irregularities had occurred in the parliamentary elections.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 2.5 .
- ↑ Uzbek Party Signals Plan To Nominate Karimov For Third Term. Accessed April 10, 2020 .
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 3 .
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 10 .
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 11-12 .
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 13 .
- ↑ Uzbekistan's Parliamentary Elections: Business As Usual (Except For One Thing). Accessed April 10, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Nohlen, Dieter., Grotz, Florian., Hartmann, Christof .: Elections in Asia and the Pacific: a data handbook . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-924958-X .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER ELECTIONS OSCE / ODIHR NEEDS ASSESSMENT MISSION REPORT . Warsaw 2004.
- ^ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute .: SIPRI yearbook 2005: armaments, disarmament and international security . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-928401-6 , pp. 68 .
- ↑ Songstad, Nils Gunnar .: The Republic of Uzbekistan: parliamentary elections - 2004: report . University of Oslo, Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo 2005, ISBN 82-90851-97-9 , pp. 14 .
