Incumbent Uzbek President Re-elected for Seven-Year Term

Uzbekistan’s incumbent president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, won a new seven-year term in the country’s presidential election in which he faced three opponents, preliminary results showed Monday.

Shavkat Mirzayoyev won 87.05 percent of the votes, and each of the challengers about 4%, the country’s central elections commission said.

According to Uzbekistan’s constitution, whoever wins over 50 percent of the vote, becomes the president.  

Presidents of Russia, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan sent congratulatory messages to the Uzbek president on his re-election as the leader of the Central Asian state.

Nizam Khodjaev, head of Uzbekistan’s central elections commission stated the snap presidential election was organized based on the country’s established national constitution and principles in a transparent manner.

The voting began at 8:00 am in the morning on Sunday, July 9, and ended by 8:00 pm in the evening, in which three other candidates challenged the incumbent Uzbek president.

Sunday’s vote followed a constitutional referendum that extended presidential terms from five to seven years.

Mirziyoyev has been leading the Central Asia state since 2016 after the death of longtime dictator Islam Karimov. He has introduced some minor political and economic reforms that eased some of the draconian policies of his predecessor, who made Uzbekistan into one of the region’s most repressive countries.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has remained strongly authoritarian with no significant opposition. It is reported that all the registered political parties are loyal to Mirziyoyev.

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