Uzbekistan - 29 March 2015 Elections
On 29 March 2015, voters elected President Karimov to a fourth term in office in polling that, according to the limited observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), deprived voters of a genuine choice due to “the lack of a political alternative to the incumbent president.” Preliminary results showed Uzbek incumbent president Karimov winning over 90 percent of the vote, the country's central election commission announced 30 March 2015. Rough tally was over 17 million votes for Karimov, and the final results of the election would be announced in 10 days, said the commission during a briefing.
Karimov ruled the country for a quarter-century. Three other candidates were also vying for the presidency, but those candidates effectively campaigned for strongman Karimov, calling him "the best candidate." There is no opposition in the impoverished state.
Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with a constitution that provides for a presidential system with separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch under President Islam Karimov dominated political life and exercised nearly complete control over the other branches of government. On March 29, voters elected President Karimov to a fourth term in office in polling that, according to the limited observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), deprived voters of a genuine choice due to “the lack of a political alternative to the incumbent president.” This was also in direct contravention to the country’s constitutionally mandated presidential two-term limit. Parliamentary elections took place in December 2014. According to the OSCE’s observer mission, the elections “were competently administered but lacked genuine electoral competition and debate.” Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces, but security services permeated civilian structures, and their interaction is opaque, which makes it difficult to define the scope and limits of civilian authority. The most significant human rights problems included: torture and abuse of detainees by security forces; denial of due process and fair trial; disregard for the rule of law; and an inability to change the government through elections.
The law allows independent political parties, but the Ministry of Justice has broad powers to oversee parties and to withhold financial and legal support to those they judge to be opposed to the government. The preliminary report of the OSCE’s limited observer mission to parliamentary elections in December 2014 concluded the elections “were competently administered but lacked genuine electoral competition and debate.” The report further noted the elections did not “address main concerns with regard to fundamental freedoms that are critical for elections to fully meet international commitments and standards.” The government limited participation in the December 2014 parliamentary elections solely to candidates nominated by the four registered pro-presidential parties and maintained control of the media and electoral financing. The OSCE preliminary report also underlined that proxy voting was widespread and “may have influenced the turnout,” claimed by the Central Election Commission to be 89 percent of registered voters. Several human rights activists claimed that, without proxy voting in the presidential and parliamentary elections, turnout would not have been sufficient for the elections to meet the legal minimum participation threshold.
The law makes it difficult for genuinely independent political parties to organize, nominate candidates, and campaign. A new party must have the signatures of 20,000 individuals living in at least eight of the country’s provinces to register. The procedures to register a candidate are burdensome. The law allows the Ministry of Justice to suspend parties for as long as six months without a court order. The government also exercised control over established parties by controlling their financing and media exposure.
The law prohibits judges, public prosecutors, NSS officials, members of the armed forces, foreign citizens, and stateless persons from joining political parties. The law prohibits parties that are based on religion or ethnicity; oppose the sovereignty, integrity, or security of the country, or the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens; promote war or social, national, or religious hostility; or seek to overthrow the government. The law also prohibits the Islamist political organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir, stating it promotes hate and condones acts of terrorism. In October and November, authorities reportedly arrested more than 160 individuals in the Tashkent area under suspicion of Da'esh affiliation, though media reports claimed a majority of these detainees were actually peaceful Hizb-ut-Tahrir members.
The government banned or denied registration to several political parties following the 2005 Andijon violence. Former party leaders remained in exile, and their parties struggled to remain relevant without a strong domestic base.
The entry into force of the law "On parliamentary control" imposed a special responsibility before UzLiDeP as the party which had the greatest corps of deputies in representative bodies. In this regard, the Executive Committee of the Political Council of UzLiDeP and its faction in the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan held a joint meeting on April 26, 2016. It was noted at the meeting that parliament has a special role in the further democratization and modernization of the country. A logical step in this direction was the entry into force the law "On parliamentary control", which aims to create an integrated system of legislative base of the parliamentary control over the execution of requirements of the Constitution and laws.
Under Uzbekistan's constitution, the presidency was limited to two consecutive terms. After the last election, the 77-year-old incumbent orchestrated an amendment to the constitution reducing presidential terms from seven to five years. International monitors said Uzbek officials justified Karimov's decision to continue to run for office by pointing out that terms of a different length can not be considered consecutive.
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