In Uzbekistan, the conclusion of the outgoing presidential elections promised Mirziyev

Tashkent (Reuters) – Uzbeks voted on Sunday to elect their own president in a snap election as incumbent leader Shavkat Mirziyev secures a third term as president of Central Asia’s most populous Uzbekistan, which he has led since 2016.

Polling stations closed at 8:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. GMT), AFP journalists in the capital, Tashkent, reported, after the Election Commission confirmed the validity of the polls in the morning.

According to the same source, nearly 70% of the 19.2 million electorate voted at 5:00 pm local time (12:00 GMT) in this gas-rich and strategically located ex-Soviet republic, in the heart of the region. .

These presidential elections without real suspense, the preliminary results of which should be announced on Monday, were called by Mr. Mirziyev in the wake of the constitutional referendum on April 30, which was approved by more than 90% of the electorate.

Elected in 2016 in an armchair and then easily renewed in 2021 without real competition. According to international observers, this 65-year-old agronomist by training presents himself as a reformer capable of guiding his country on the path of development and openness.

Having to devote itself to the fairer “New Uzbekistan” project, the president’s slogan that has been projected everywhere, the April 30 ballot also ratifies the transition from a five-year term to a seven-year term and authorizes Chavkat Mirziyev to run for two more terms.

Measures that would theoretically allow the leader to remain in power until 2037, after he was prime minister between 2003 and 2016.

Free medicines

There is no doubt about the outcome of the vote: all the Uzbeks interviewed by AFP confirmed that they would give their votes to the outgoing leader, who faces three unknown candidates.

“I hope that Shavkat Mirziyev will be the future president, so that he will speed up the fight against corruption, so that he will notice the problems we have with the environment,” testifies Nodira Khedoyatova, a 57-year-old business manager, who was confronted at the exit of the polling station, where, as in every Whereas, polling booths have no curtains and ballots do not have envelopes.

For voters unable to move, the ballot box has been sent home, AFP noted, while state media shows images of people moving through polling stations, sometimes dancing and singing.

After voting at home, Mujayo Andurazukova, 84, hopes that “the future president will take care of the retirees, by providing free medicine, and the young,” in a country with a young majority and strong population growth.

And Rusibo Ghibadulina, a Krasnogorsk street vendor, would like to “ask presidential candidate Mirziyev to rest the younger generation in summer camps, as it was under the Soviet Union,” in the former mining town where there is a mural from the 1950s to the glory of the USSR. Visible on a building in the main square.

Cut the gas

Because economic difficulties remain despite progress, with many Uzbeks having to travel to Russia to feed their families.

Snat Tutchev, a 40-year-old welder based in Tashkent, expects the new boss to solve “gas problems”, after a winter marked by frequent cuts and “improving the quality of roads”.

A l’international, l’objectif affiché of M. Mirzioïev est de pour suivre sa politique d’ouverture afin d’attirer des investissements étrangers, en rupture avec le quart de siècle d’isolement de l’Ouzbekistan sous Islam Karimov, dont il itait first Minister.

Domestically, however, the political landscape has not changed much, with only five empowered parties, all of which support presidential politics to a greater or lesser degree.

And this election is no exception, with a top candidate facing almost unknown challengers, although programs and posters in Uzbek and Russian are evenly distributed among the candidates.

A formula already tested during elections in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and allocated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) describes the campaign as “secret and reflects the absence of opposition to the outgoing president.

Non-governmental organizations criticized the suppression of rare demonstrations against a constitutional amendment in July 2022 in the north of the country, which left 21 dead, according to the official report.