On May 15, the Central Election Commission approved the participation of all five registered political parties in Uzbekistan in the upcoming presidential election, which will take place on July 9.
According to the Electoral Code, the CEC, after considering the authorisation documents submitted by the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (PDPU), the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDEP), the Adolat Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, and the Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party, gave them permission to participate in the early presidential elections.
The political parties received registration certificates and signature sheets at the meeting. They have to gather signatures from at least 1 per cent of all voters in the country. However, they can only collect up to 8 per cent of their total signatures in each administrative-territorial unit (Karakalpakstan, regions and Tashkent).
The party will then be able to submit documents to the CEC for registration as a presidential candidate.
All parties have named their presidential candidates. The Ecological Party has nominated its leader, Abdushukur Khamzayev; the People’s Democratic Party, Ulugbek Inoyatov; and the Adolat Social-Democratic Party, Robakhon Mahmudova; and UzLiDeP is nominating incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The Milliy Tiklanish party decided to support the UzLiDeP candidate.
According to the amended constitution, the president’s term was increased from 5 to 7 years. The renewed constitution also “zeroed out” the current president’s term, giving him the chance to be elected as the head of state two more times.
