Uzbekistan’s next parliamentary elections will be held on October 27th. The Central Election Commission announced this last week.
Uzbeks vote for the 150-member Legislative Assembly (the lower house of the Oliy Majlis), as well as members of 12 regional councils, the Tashkent City Council, and 208 district councils. Karakalpakstan voters elect 65 members to the Supreme Council of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic.
Uzbekistan’s last parliamentary elections were held Late December 2019.
in February 2021Uzbekistan’s President Shahjahan Mirziyoyev has signed a reform bill that includes changing election dates from December to October.
Subsequent reforms include December 2023introduced Mixed electoral systemPreviously, elections in Uzbekistan were conducted using a majority vote system, with the candidate receiving the most votes declared the winner. In the new system75 seats in the legislature are elected by majority vote in single-member districts, and the remaining 75 seats are apportioned proportionally among the political parties.
A Senate spokesman Interfax In December 2023, he said the new arrangements “will serve to further expand the role of political parties in the work of parliament and local assemblies.”
Uzbekistan currently has five officially registered political parties, but there is little competition or debate between them.
As a pensioner in Tashkent He told me in December 2019On the day of the parliamentary elections, officials ran the slogan “New Uzbekistan, new elections,” saying, “We have five political parties, but in reality it’s like one party split into five.”
In the current parliament, elected in 2019, the Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP) holds 53 seats in the legislature. The party is considered the presidential party as it was founded by Islam Karimov in 2003. The National and Reconstruction Democratic Party (Mili Tikranish) holds 36 seats, the Justice and Social Democratic Party (Adrat) holds 24 seats, the People’s Democratic Party holds 22 seats, and the Environment Party holds 15 seats.
In the last elections, some Uzbek officials referred to the Eco Party as a “new” party, a distinction that makes no difference given that the movement (now restructured as the “Green” party) was automatically allotted 15 seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections.
Alternative political parties continued to face difficulties obtaining the official registration necessary to run in elections.
As one example, former university rector and dissident Hidirnazar Alaqoulov first tried to register the Hakikat va Tarakiyot (Truth and Development) Social Democratic Party. April and May 2021both times, the Ministry of Justice denied having collected the necessary signatures and the party’s proposals were rejected. After the second refusalThe Ministry of Justice issued a press release warning the party that it “must suspend its activities” because Uzbekistan’s Political Parties Law only allows organizing committees to be active for three months.
These refusals were accompanied by pressure campaigns. crowd A group of people attacked Alaklov at his apartment in early April 2021. They then sued him and were fined for defamation. Namangan He was summoned to a meeting in the local school gymnasium and reprimanded by his neighbors, mostly older women.
With just three months left, it seems unlikely that any new parties will emerge.
Meanwhile, Uzbek political scientist Farkhod Tripov He told Gazeta.uz in 2023“In a non-rivalous situation, as long as all MPs are members of the same party line, it doesn’t matter what system they are elected by,” he said when the goal of moving to a mixed voting system was announced.
Of course, there is an opportunity here for Uzbek political parties to truly distinguish themselves in front of voters. Only time will tell if that happens.
