By NNN-Bernama,
Tashkent : The people of Uzbekistan, the most populous nation in Central Asia, went to the polls Sunday to elect a new 150-seat Oliy Majlis lower chamber of parliament.
Voting centres opened at 6am for the 17 million eligible voters to elect 517 candidates representing four parties. It closed at 8pm.
There is an air of festivity at many of the polling stations in Uzbekistan, with one polling station airing Uzbek songs and election officials happily greeting voters.
Chairman of the 133rd Electoral District Committee “Kukcha”, Zoir Tursunbayevich Isajonov, said the polling centres normally recorded “peak” voter turnout between 10am and noon.
In the morning, those who turned up at the polling centres were mainly the elderly, he told Bernama.
Uzbekistan has a unique election system where people in poor health can vote from their homes and according to Isajonov, polling officials would go to the houses of these people with a ballot box to enable them to vote.
Observers representing the four parties at the polling stations when approached said that everything was going on well.
Apart from the local observers, Uzbekistan has also invited more than 200 foreign observers, including four from Malaysia, to ensure “openness” in the parliamentary elections.
The four-member Malaysian observer team is led by Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar. The rest are Asean Law Association of Malaysia honorary secretary S. Radhakrishnan, Perdasama president businessman Moehamad Izat Emir and senior lawyer Kamarudin Ahmad.
An observer from Israel MK Robert Ilatov, a member of its parliament, said the elections were well organised.
“The procedure is going well,” said Ilatov, who was visiting one of the polling stations.
Uzbeks can vote when they turn 18 years old and at one of the polling centres two first-time voters came out all excited after exercising their rights.
Dilafruz Zakiruva, 18, a student of the Tashkent Management and Technology College, and Mukaddas Mohirova, also 18, said they were excited and happy to be able to vote in the parliamentary elections and choose the leaders for their country.
More than 60 per cent of Uzbekistan’s 27 million population comprise youths and to make them more aware of the country’s election process, a programme for first-time voters is conducted throughout the country where they are given talks on the elections and the process.
The four parties contesting are the People’s Democratic Party, Adolat (Justice) Social Democratic Party, Liberal Democratic Party (Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen) and the Milliy Tiklanish (National Revival) Democratic Party).
The People’s Democratic Party has fielded 134 candidates, Adolat (123), Liberal Democratic Party (135) and Milliy Tiklanish (125).
According to statements, a large number of the registered candidates are representatives of the industrial sector, small business and farmers. There are also representatives from the fields of science, education and healthcare.
In accordance with Uzbekistan election law, 31.9 per cent of all candidates are women, with 31.7 per cent of them from the Adolat party, 32 per cent from Milliy Tiklanish, 33.3 per cent from the Liberal Democratic Party and 36 per cent from the People’s Democratic Party.
Uzbekistan, a country of 447,400 sq km in size is surrounded by Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
It is the most populous of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, and has large gas and oil reserves, is among the world’s top 10 gold producers and the second largest exporter of cotton, and has large uranium reserves.
Uzbekistan’s diplomatic relations with Malaysia began in 1992 and from then on Uzbek President Islam Karimov had visited Malaysia twice in 1992 and 2005. In 2003, the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Malaysian King) Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Jamalullail visited Uzbekistan.
Former Malaysian prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had also visited Uzbekistan.
Malaysia’s Petronas has a strong presence in Uzbekistan.