Presidential election in Uzbekistan 2015
The 2015 presidential election in Uzbekistan took place on March 29, 2015 in the Republic of Uzbekistan . Long-time President Islom Karimov , who had ruled the country since its independence in 1991, was again the winner .
Electoral system
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The presidential election was held in the form of a nationwide majority vote. The election winner needs an absolute majority of the votes cast. If none of the candidates succeeded, a runoff election between the two most successful candidates in the first round was planned. For the election to be valid, a turnout of at least 33% was required in the first ballot ; in a hypothetical second ballot, no such hurdle was prescribed. The term of office of the president was reduced from seven to five years in 2011, so that the election winner was legitimized in the office of president until 2020. The current limitation of the presidency to two terms has been suspended for long-time President Karimov. The Central Electoral Commission justified the approval of Karimov's candidacy with the fact that since the adoption of a new constitution in 2002 he had only been elected to the office of president during the 2007 presidential election in Uzbekistan . De facto, however, Karimov ran for his fourth term in 2015. The registration of candidates for the office of president was of great importance for the course of the election. Compared to the previous presidential election, the possibility of nominations for independent candidates by electoral groups was eliminated, candidates could only be nominated by registered parties. Since the Karimov government pursued a restrictive course against all forms of opposition, no opposition party was registered at the time of the presidential election, so that the nomination of opposition politicians was excluded by the design of the registration process. In addition to the nomination by a party, the signatures of at least 5% of the eligible population, around one million people, were required in order to be allowed to vote by the Central Election Commission.
Candidates
The four registered parties, which also ran in the parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan in 2009/10 and 2014/15 and won seats there, each nominated one candidate for the office of president. The Liberal Democratic Party , which emerged as the strongest parliamentary group in the previous parliamentary elections in 2014/15, nominated incumbent Islom Karimov. The second largest group in the Uzbek parliament, Milliy Tiklanish , nominated Akmal Saidov , director of the Center for Human Rights in Uzbekistan. The People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan was represented in the presidential election by its party leader, Hotamjon Ketmonov . The fourth party nominated by the Social Democratic Party was Adolat Nariman Umarov , who had previously headed the State Committee for Nature Conservation. for the presidential election. Since all registered parties were loyal to the president, so did the nominated candidates. These clearly expressed their admiration and support for the incumbent, highlighting the lack of pluralism in Uzbek politics.
Election campaign
A real election campaign did not take place due to the small differences of opinion and the almost unassailable position of the incumbent Karimov. The election campaign funding is mainly from state funds. Each candidate was given a budget of around € 327,000 that was supposed to cover expenses for the election campaign. Visible signs of the election campaign were election posters in the larger cities of the country, which were also put up by the state. There was hardly any substantive debate about the election. The president's opposing candidates addressed specific groups of voters, for example the Milliy Tiklanish found its voters primarily in the national-conservative milieu. President Karimov, on the other hand, rarely campaigned actively, relying on his constant media presence, among other things.
Result
The result corresponded to the expected, clear victory of the incumbent and thus joined the results of the previous presidential elections.
| candidate | Political party | Votes (absolute) | Votes (relative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Islom Karimov | Liberal Democratic Party | 17.122.597 | 90.39% |
| Akmal Saidov | Milliy Tiklanish | 582,688 | 3.08% |
| Hotamjon Ketmonov | People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan | 552.309 | 2.92% |
| Nariman Umarov | Adolat | 389.024 | 2.05% |
| Invalid | - | 295.731 | 1.56% |
| voter turnout | - | 18,942,349 | 91.08% |
With the high turnout and the clear absolute majority for the incumbent, the result of the election was already valid after the first ballot and President Karimov was legitimized for another five-year term. However, since Karimov died in September 2016, another presidential election had to be held in Uzbekistan in 2016.
rating
The presidential election met with mixed feedback at home and abroad. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission strongly criticized the election. In particular, the lack of political competition, the repression of the opposition and numerous legal and organizational deficiencies were identified by the OSCE and led to the assessment that the election was neither free nor fair. Even Human Rights Watch criticized the election and made on human rights violations in Uzbekistan. Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin , on the other hand, was one of the first to congratulate and described the election as proof of Karimov's great authority over his compatriots. The observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States also contradicted the OSCE and described the election as free, open and democratic . Karimov himself justified his candidacy for a further term, among other things, with the fight against radical Islamism , the spread of which must be prevented in Uzbekistan.
Individual evidence
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw June 23, 2015, p. 4-11 .
- ↑ Uzbekistan to hold presidential polls in late March. Retrieved May 10, 2020 .
- ↑ Prof. Akmal Saidov. Retrieved May 10, 2020 .
- ↑ BIOGRAPHY OF THE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN NARIMAN MAJITOVICH UMAROV | Uzbekistan. Retrieved May 10, 2020 .
- ↑ Karimov Nominated For Reelection. Retrieved May 10, 2020 (English).
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw June 23, 2015, p. 11-13 .
- ↑ OSCE (ed.): OSCE / ODIHR Limited Election Observation Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw June 23, 2015, p. 25 .
- ↑ Uzbekistan's Dictator Grabs Fourth Term in Opposition-Free Poll | Eurasianet. Retrieved May 10, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Veteran Uzbek leader re-elected in vote OSCE brands undemocratic . In: Reuters . March 30, 2015 ( reuters.com [accessed May 10, 2020]).
