SCO Mission: ‘Elections Were Free & Transparent’

On December 24 this year the Press Center of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted the news conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Observer Mission dedicated to the presidential elections in Uzbekistan on December 23, the newspapers reported.

The local and foreign journalists, international observers, representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Uzbekistan are reported to have participated at the news conference.

The head of the SCO Observer Mission, the SCO Secretary General Bolat Nuraliev has read out the text of the Mission’s Statement on the presidential elections in the country. The document reads that based on the analysis of national election legislation with regard to the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan carried out by the experts of the SCO Secretariat the elections were held in correspondence with universally accepted international election standards and democratic norms. According to the Mission, the Uzbek legislation creates the necessary legal conditions for the voters for the free expression of their will and secret voting.

All candidates registered by the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan as nominees for President have had equal opportunities to hold the pre-election campaign and familiarize the voters with their own programs. The SCO Observer Mission has met with the heads of campaign headquarters of nominees and learned about the preparation process to the elections at the district and precinct election commissions in the cities of Bukhara, Tashkent and Kagan, the Bukhara Province.

The Mission is also reported to have attended numerous polling stations during the voting and voting counting. The Statement of the Mission has underscored that the organization and holding the voting have been in full correspondence with the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and “On guarantees of suffrage of citizens”.

According to the Statement, the complaints and remarks from the observers of the elections process have not been filed with the Mission. It is also said that during the counting of votes the observers did not reveal any violations of provisions of the Law “On elections of President of Uzbekistan”.

The SCO Observer Mission believes that the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan were legitimate, free and transparent and fully corresponded to the requirements of the national legislation and international election standards, the Statement read.