On December 22, 2019, Uzbekistan held elections of deputies to the lower house of Parliament (Oliy Mazhilis), regional, district, and city Kengashes (councils).
«New Uzbekistan - new elections» was the motto of the 2019 election campaign. This is the first parliamentary elections under the presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The legislative elections were conducted in the context of the updated electoral law and the recently adopted new electoral code. 5 parties aspired to 150 seats in Parliament. Since this year, the quota of 15 places for environmentalists has been canceled. The elections were held on a majority basis, and candidates can only be nominated by parties. In addition, the electoral code provides for the possibility of nominating non-party candidates.
The quota for the representation of women remained at least 30% of the total number of candidates nominated by the party. This year, about 20 million citizens of Uzbekistan had the right to vote, 2 million of whom participated in the voting for the first time. In this regard, one of the features- the share of young candidates for deputies significantly increased.
The first public inter-party debates among candidates also took place dynamically. The current issues of the socio-economic situation in the country, salaries, unemployment, problems of migrants, attitude to the EAEU were at the epicenter of the discussions. It is noteworthy that in the voter lists about 1.7 million citizens are attached to foreign polling stations.
According to the CEC of Uzbekistan, the voter turnout in the elections was 71.1%. In the first round of voting, 43 deputies were elected from the liberal democratic party of Uzbekistan, 35 from the Democratic party of Uzbekistan, 21 from the Social democratic party, 18 from the people's democratic party, and 11 from the Environmental party. The holders of the remaining 22 seats will be determined in the second round of voting, which should take place within two weeks.
Deputy Director of the Kazakhstan institute for strategic studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, doctor of political science Sanat Kushkumbayev took part in the elections in the Republic of Uzbekistan as part of the CIS Observer mission.
