New Parliamentary Elections in Uzbekistan

The parliamentary and municipal election campaigns had already started in Uzbekistan on September 22.

The number of candidates will increase from 120 to 150 people. Fifteen seats are assigned for candidates of the Uzbek Environmental Movement. There are four political parties in Uzbekistan: the People's Democratic Party, the Businessmen Movement - Liberal Democratic Party, the Adolat Social Democratic Party and the Milli Tiklanish Democratic Party. All Uzbek citizens of 18 and older can vote in the elections.

The Uzbek newspapers covering the campaign claim that they are being conducted in a democratic manner and comply with the international standards of elections. I am not sure though what democracy means to the government officials in Uzbekistan when Central Election Commission Chairman, Mirzo-Ulugbek Abdusalomov, who read a brief statement about the elections, declined to provide a single response to the questions of the media representatives.

Also, the Uzmetronom.com openly criticized the election campaigns and stated that Uzbek government officials prefer to communicate with the people through different government decrees, which cannot be discussed, or through press briefings, in which media representatives act as a silent crowd who create visibility of the public interest to the events happening in the country.