Parliamentary election in Uzbekistan 2009/10

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Distribution of seats after the election:
  • Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan : 53
  • People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan : 32
  • Milliy Tiklanish : 31
  • Adolat : 19
  • Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan : 15

    • The 2009/10 parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan were held on December 27, 2009 with a runoff on January 10, 2010 . The 150 members of the lower house of the Uzbek parliament were elected.

    Electoral system

    The Oliy Majlis is the parliament in the Uzbek bicameral system . It consists of the legislative chamber, whose representatives are directly elected, and the Senate. A reform of the parliament in 2008 increased the number of delegates in the legislative chamber from 120 to 150. 135 mandates were awarded according to the principle of majority voting in 135 electoral districts. The victorious candidate needed an absolute majority of the votes cast in order to enter the legislative assembly. If none of the candidates running in an electoral district succeeded, a run-off election was held between the two most successful candidates in the first round of voting. In addition to these 135 elected MPs, 15 seats were reserved for the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan. These mandates were awarded at a party congress of the ecological movement, with each of the 14 regions of Uzbekistan represented by a representative. In addition to these 14 delegates from the regions, the ecological movement sent a member of the party's central council as the 15th delegate. As part of the adjustment to the electoral law in 2008, the number of signatures required to register a candidate was reduced from 50,000 to 40,000, and the deadline for registering parties was extended by two months. These measures officially served to strengthen the democratic party system, but were of little consequence compared to the otherwise repressive approach taken by the government towards any kind of opposition. In addition, in contrast to the parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan in 2004/05, no candidacies were accepted from independent politicians. President Islom Karimov justified this with the weakening of the importance of political parties by independent candidates, but de facto this measure meant a further restriction of political pluralism .

    Candidates and parties

    The measures to facilitate the registration of parties and candidates showed no effect, with only four parties running in the general election. These were the People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan , the Liberal Democratic Party , Milliy Tiklanish and the Social Democratic Party Adolat. Compared to the previous parliamentary elections in 2004/05, the number of registered parties has decreased from five to four. This was due to the merger of the People's Democratic Party and the Fidokorlar party, which was previously represented as the third largest group in the Uzbek parliament. All four parties were considered loyal to the president and his policies, and opposition parties were therefore not allowed to vote. The four parties nominated a total of 517 candidates; on election day, after 13 candidates had withdrawn, 504 candidates stood for election. When nominating the candidates, a quota of women of 30% applied to all parties .

    Election campaign

    In the run-up to the election, there was a limited campaign between the registered parties, with differences between the parties becoming apparent. While the Liberal Democrats advocated further economic reforms, the People's Democrats tended to focus on improving the social system . The social democratic party Adolat made the fight against corruption in the country and increasing the efficiency of state authorities a central theme of the party. The Milliy Tiklanish party, meanwhile, stressed the importance of national culture and tradition and called for their preservation and promotion. In terms of campaign resources, the options for all parties were limited. The Central Election Commission, in cooperation with local officials, organized events to introduce the candidates, election campaign events of the parties hardly played a role. All parties were also provided with standardized election posters containing information on the candidates. Talk shows and televised duels between political leaders were occasionally broadcast on television in the run-up to the election . The financing of the election campaign was subject to strict rules in order to maintain equal opportunities between the parties and the candidates, but this measure also ensured the low budget of most of the candidates, which made an intensive election campaign hardly possible. The exclusion of opposition parties from the election also made a more controversial political debate impossible.

    Result

    In 96 of the 135 electoral districts, a candidate was elected with an absolute majority in the first ballot, while runoff elections were held in the remaining 39 electoral districts. The Liberal Democratic Party was able to maintain its status as the strongest faction in the Uzbek parliament with 53 seats. One of the winners of the election was the Milliy Tiklanish party, which recorded significant gains compared to the previous election. The turnout was given as 87.76% for the first ballot and 79.7% for the runoff election. 33 female MPs were represented in the newly elected parliament, which corresponds to a share of 22%.

    Political party Mandates (1st ballot) Mandates (2nd ballot) Mandates (total) Change to 2004/05
    Liberal Democratic Party 33 20th 53 +12
    People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan 22nd 10 32 +4
    Milliy Tiklanish 25th 6th 31 +20
    Adolat 16 3 19th +9
    Ecological movement 0 0 15th +15
    Fidocorlar 0 0 0 −18
    Independent 0 0 0 −12
    total 96 39 150 +30

    consequences

    The domestic political consequences of the election were limited, as Parliament's support for the president's course before and after the election was secured. Through this constellation, Karimov's position of power was still unassailable and Karimov was able to further consolidate his authoritarian rule. In the regularly held parliamentary elections, observers saw Karimov's attempt to maintain a state-controlled democracy as the legitimation of his politics. In terms of foreign policy, the elections had no consequences for Uzbekistan ; Western nations like the United States or the states of the European Union refrained from loud criticism of President Karimov's approach. This was mainly due to the role of Uzbekistan as an ally in the war in Afghanistan and the strategic interest in stability in Uzbekistan.

    rating

    In addition to national observers, an observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was also on site on election day. This praised the peaceful and orderly process of the election and recognized individual efforts to improve the electoral law, but came to the overall conclusion that the election did not meet democratic standards. Above all, the lack of pluralism as a result of the exclusion of the opposition was criticized. The fixed mandates for the ecological movement and the ban on independent candidacies were also criticized as undemocratic. With regard to the conduct of the election, the observers criticized, among other things, the lack of transparency in the counting of votes and the inadequate quality of the electoral roll , which allowed numerous irregularities, including cases of multiple voting. President Karimov himself made a statement on election day, describing his country as crisis-proof and seeing the high turnout as a sign of his popularity.

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ UzA: Ecological Movement holds conference on elections to parliament. January 14, 2010, accessed April 28, 2020 .
    2. ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw April 7, 2010, p. 5 .
    3. ↑ Uzbekistan's Parliamentary Elections: Business As Usual (Except For One Thing). Accessed April 28, 2020 (English).
    4. ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw April 7, 2010, p. 9 .
    5. ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw April 7, 2010, p. 12 .
    6. ^ Uzbekistan: Tashkent Holds Parliamentary Elections | Eurasianet. Accessed April 28, 2020 (English).
    7. ↑ IPU PARLINE database: UZBEKISTAN (Qonunchilik palatasi), ELECTIONS IN 2009. Accessed April 28, 2020 .
    8. ↑ Election 2009: Uzbek President Solidifies Power by Orchestrating Third Parliamentary Poll. Retrieved April 28, 2020 .
    9. ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw April 7, 2010, p. 19-21 .
    10. ↑ UPDATE 2-Apathy and fear as Uzbekistan votes in election . In: Reuters . December 27, 2009 ( reuters.com [accessed April 28, 2020]).