Voting in presidential election starts in Uzbekistan

None
None
TASHKENT. KAZINFORM Today, on Dec. 4, polling stations have been opened at 06:00 (UTC/GMT+5) for voting in the presidential election in Uzbekistan.

In total, 9,383 polling stations, including 44 at the Uzbek diplomatic missions in foreign countries, have been opened for voting.

The polling stations will be closed at 20:00.

Names of 21.435 million Uzbek nationals, who are 18-years old, have been included in the voters’ lists.

Earlier, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Uzbekistan announced the 100-percent readiness for the extraordinary presidential election in the country. Polling stations are equipped with the necessary means of communication, technology and literature. All voters are notified by district election commissions about the time and place of voting.

Conditions for disabled citizens have been created at the polling stations. Almost every polling station has ramps for wheelchairs and voting booths with appropriate width. Special ballot papers, as well as materials about the election on the basis of Braille alphabet have been prepared for blind people. Sick citizens can call to polling stations on the election day and ask them to come home with relevant documents and a special ballot box.

Uzbekistan’s Interior Ministry and National Security Service will ensure security during the presidential election in the country.

Citizens, who don’t have the opportunity to be at the place of their residence on the election day, voted in advance from November 24 to December 2. According to the CEC, the number of citizens, who participated in early voting, was 117,902.

The Uzbek presidential election campaign started Sept. 9, 2016.

The canvassing, which began since the registration day of the candidates, Oct. 28, ended on Dec. 2 evening.

Uzbekistan will hold an early presidential election December 4 due to the death of ex-president Islam Karimov, who passed away after suffering a stroke at the age of 79 on Sept. 2.

Candidates from four political parties of Uzbekistan participate in the presidential election - Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party (UzLiDeP), People's Democratic Party (PDPU), Milly Tiklanish (National Revival) Party, and Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party.

Among the presidential candidates are the country’s Acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev from UzLiDeP, Sarvar Otamuratov from Milly Tiklanish Party, Nariman Umarov from Adolat Party, and Hotamzhon Ketmonov from PDPU.

The new head of state will be elected for a period of five years.

The election will be considered valid with a 33 percent turnout of the total number of voters. A candidate has to gain over 50 percent of the vote to win the election.

In general, nearly 80,000 observers will be monitoring the presidential election in Uzbekistan, including over 500 international representatives from 43 countries and such international organizations like the OSCE ODIHR, CIS Executive Committee, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

About 1,300 local and foreign journalists have been accredited to cover the presidential election in Uzbekistan, according to the CEC.

Preliminary results of the election will be revealed Dec. 5.

Source: Trend

Currently reading