Speech of Chairman of the Central Election Commission Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov at a press conference

Dear participants of the conference!

Ladies and gentlemen!

On December 22, elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, regional, district and city councils of people's deputies were conducted.

As a result of radical reforms carried out in the local and foreign policy of the country, in recent years, Uzbekistan has confidently entered a new, democratic phase of its development. Our economy is developing and our political and legal consciousness is growing. Openness and transparency in all aspects of state and society have become one of the priorities of state policy.

This year's elections were another vivid reflection of the tasks outlined in the Strategy of Action on five priority directions of our country's development.

These elections are an integral part of large-scale reforms in Uzbekistan in all areas, including political, legal, social, economic, spiritual and educational spheres.

Preparations for this year's election began two years ago. The electoral legislation has been radically renewed and the Election Code has been adopted in line with our national experience and international standards.

The election code expanded the rights and guarantees of the electoral process participants, such as voters, political parties, election commissions, the media and observers. The election administration system has been introduced through the introduction of modern information technologies.

All stages of preparation and conduct of elections were held on the basis of openness and transparency.

The elections were attended by ten international organizations, including the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the organization for security and cooperation in Europe, The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Commonwealth of independent states, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, as well as 825 international observers from nearly fifty countries and representatives of the largest mass media of 1155 local and foreign countries directly monitored.

In addition, more than 70,000 representatives of the five political parties and civil self-governing bodies participated in the elections.

For the first time, the election process was broadcast online through 120 video cameras installed in 60 polling stations across the country. Television and radio broadcasts were regularly delivered by journalists from thousands of polling stations. It was demonstrated around the world through social networking sites and websites.

During the election campaign, the International Press Center of the Central Election Commission and its regional branches created a media space for all participants in the electoral process. There were held hundreds of press conferences, briefings, interviews, and meetings. The heads of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Chairman of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ministers of Information Technologies and Communications, governors, chairmen of the election commissions in the regions delivered their speeches.

The official website of the Central Election Commission, available at saylov.uz and elections.uz, was visited by about 120,000 people during the month. In addition, about 118,500 citizens used the services of their own polling station.

Approximately 33,300 citizens requested for information on candidates from political parties. About 11.3 thousand citizens used a map to view the electronic map of polling stations. About 8,300 citizens watched the video-broadcasting page of the polling stations.

In addition, more than 300 appeals sent to the website were considered and resolved in a short period of time. At the same time, 150 of the appeals received from social networks were positively resolved. In these appeals, such work was carried out as taking the voter from another polling station and attaching him into his/her own polling station.

Dear participants of the press conference!

The Central Election Commission adopted a program of measures to prepare and conduct elections of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Regional, District and city councils of people's deputies for 2019 that played an important role in ensuring the conduct of elections on the basis of legislative requirements, at a high organizational level.

Another peculiarity of this year's elections was the civil responsibility of our voters, which is due to the increased sense of belonging to the radical reforms carried out in our country.

In total, 13 963 627 voters took part in the elections, which is 67.8 percent of the total number of voters.

150 thousand voters took advantage of the opportunity to vote early.

There was created an opportunity to vote for all our compatriots living abroad, for the first time in the elections. Previously, only citizens of Uzbekistan, officially registered in the consular offices could participate in elections.  In fact, there were established 55 polling stations in 40 countries, where 112 411 voters use their right to vote.

According to preliminary information, deputies were elected in 128 electoral districts of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan out of 150. In particular,

The Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People - the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan - 43,

The Democratic Party of Uzbekistan «Milliy Tiklanish»- 35,

The “Adolat” Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan – 21,

The People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan – 18,

The Ecological Party of Uzbekistan - 11 deputies were elected.

According to the Electoral Code, a candidate who receives more than half of the votes, that is, more than 50% of the votes, is considered as elected.

No candidate was elected in 22 electoral districts because none of them received a sufficient amount of votes.

According to Article 59 of the Electoral Code, if there are more than two candidates in electoral districts are not elected according to results of elections, the district election commission will hold a repeat voting in the electoral district and informs relevant election commission and district voters about it. Repeat voting will be held within two weeks.

There were no reports of gross violations of election legislation in the elections to representative bodies. However, the CEC received several appeals and complaints about the election process from voters and social networks, as well as information on violations. Appropriate measures are being taken to address and resolve them all within the terms and in the manner prescribed by law.

On December 22, video-materials of voters' attempt to throw several ballots in a ballot box at polling station №314 in Almazar district of Tashkent city were spread in social networks. The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that “Polling station №314 in Almazar district” was included in the electoral district “Karakamish – 142”, which held elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

On this occasion, the District Election Commission of "Karakamish – 142" studied the case and sufficient documents were sent to the Prosecutor's office of Almazar District.

The results of the voting conducted at polling station №314 of the “Karakamish – 142” electoral district were declared invalid. The results of this polling station were excluded and the results of other polling stations were summarized.

Currently, the Central Election Commission is considering protocols and other documents submitted by district election commissions.

In accordance with the Electoral Code, if necessary - the materials of separate election commissions will be thoroughly reviewed by the Central Election Commission. Only then the Central Election Commission will make a decision on the results of the election.

The elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and local representative bodies of state authority conducted on December 22 once again demonstrated that our people are working in unity and solidarity towards building a democratic constitutional state and strong civil society, improving living standards and achieving higher goals.

Preliminary analysis of the elections also revealed a number of shortcomings in the election campaign:

The turnout in Tashkent city was lower than the number of voters in other regions. This is a common tendency for large cities.

In some polling stations, cases of "family voting" were revealed, voters' signatures on ballot papers were similar, and access to the single electronic registration system of voters was limited, especially at several polling stations in Yunusabad district of Tashkent.

We plan to conduct a systematic review and monitoring of all data regarding the election campaign in the second quarter of 2020 with the participation of observers and experts from international organizations and foreign countries participating in the elections.

This forum provided an in-depth analysis of all shortcomings and problems in the electoral process and identified steps to further improve the electoral legislation and practice.

Thank you for your attention!