By Agha Iqrar Haroon
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan: The Uzbek acting Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev has comfortably won the Presidential Elections held on December 4, becoming the new President of Central Asian Country after Islam Karimov passed away on September 2 this year.
The 56-year-old Shavkat Mirziyoyev received 88.6 percent of total cast votes, announced by the Head of Election Commission of Uzbekistan Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov in a press conference at Press Club in Tashkent on Monday.
The Head of Election Commission said that out of 21 million registered voters, 87.73 percent people exercised their right to cast votes in the Presidential Elections, which according to him, took place “free and fair.”
Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov also said that elections remained peaceful and no report of election violation was registered with the Central Election Commission.
The Head of Election Commission said that 1,400 foreign observers and journalists covered the Presidential Elections.
Mirziyoyev served former late President Karimov as Prime Minister over 13 years and is being considered a person who knows and understand political vision of Karimov.
He is graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration. He served as governor (Hakim) of Jizzakh Region from 1996 to September 2001 and then governor of Samarqand Region from September 2001 till his appointment as Prime Minister in 2003.
“A member of Samarkand clan, Mirziyoyev had always been considered the leading potential successors to late President Islam Karimov”, said majority of journalists when asked to comment over his success.
News President Mirziyoyev is known for his management and handling critical issues and he has already started to neutralize relations with neighboring countries- particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
It may be mentioned that the Presidential elections in Uzbekistan were held on December 4, 2016 peacefully with no report of election violation registered with Central Election Commission. Voting ended at 2000 hours of Sunday (Tashkent time) throughout the country and 87% of 21 million registered voters cast their ballots while no electoral law violations were registered with Election Commission or reported in national media.
Over 9,000 polling stations were established all over the country to cater 21 million registered voters in Uzbekistan that has a total population of 33 million people.
A large number of voters were seen gathering early morning outside polling stations and a heavy turnout was reported before lunch break in Bukhara. A clear sky and pleasant weather in otherwise cloudy December also helped voters to enjoy polling day as holiday and families were throbbing to polling stations early morning.
Transparency for casting vote was ensured by providing cabins to stamp the ballot paper secretly and then putting the stamped vote in a transparent ballot box.
Monitoring rooms were established in all 14 electoral districts to monitor voting process while Central Election Commission (CEC) of Uzbekistan had a national monitor room to oversee election process in the country.
It may be mentioned that Uzbekistan went for extraordinary early Presidential Elections due to demise of ex-president Islam Karimov who died at age of 79 on September 2, 2016. He ran this landlocked Central Asian State for 25 year.
