Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) officially started work to observe the presidential elections in Uzbekistan, which will be held on 4 December.
The mission already includes 15 experts from 10 OSCE participating states based in Tashkent. Another 20 long-term observers from 12 countries will arrive in the coming days to be deployed in the regions of Uzbekistan.
“ODIHR is sending a full-fledged election observation mission to Uzbekistan for the first time,” head of mission Johan Peter Traugott Theiler said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Our goal is to assess various stages of electoral process in terms of their compliance with OSCE commitments, signed by all participating states, including Uzbekistan, as well as other commitments and standards of democratic electoral process, including national legislation.”
The participants of the mission are scheduled to meet representatives of authorities and political parties, civil society and the diplomatic corps.
250 short-term observers will arrive in Uzbekistan on 2 December. This group will monitor opening of polling stations throughout the country and the voting progress itself.
