By Bahtiyar Abdulkerimov
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AA) — Voting ended in Uzbekistan's early presidential election on Sunday as ballot boxes closed at 8 p.m. local time (1500GMT).
The Central Asian country's Central Election Commission declared an end to the day's 12 hours of voting, with officials starting to count the ballots under supervision of observers from political parties.
As of 5 p.m., over 13.4 million voters had cast their votes, the commission said in a statement. That figure corresponds to about 69.8% of the total number of registered voters in the country.
Preliminary results and information on voter turnout are expected to be announced by the Central Election Commission on Monday. Uzbekistan has a population of roughly 36 million, including approximately 20 million registered voters.
While over 10,700 ballot boxes were set up throughout the country, Uzbek nationals abroad cast their votes in 55 ballot boxes established in 39 countries, including Türkiye.
On April 30, Uzbek citizens voted on constitutional amendments that provide for the extension of the presidential term from the current five years to seven and also allow incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to be elected again after two consecutive terms.
- Four candidates
Apart from Mirziyoyev, three other candidates were nominated by political parties to run in the election: Ulugbek Inoyatov, Abdushukur Khamzayev, and Robakhon Makhmudova.
Mirziyoyev was nominated from the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, while Inoyatov was tapped by the People's Democratic Party, Khamzayev by the Environmental Party, and Makhmudova, who is also the first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court, by the Social Democratic Party.
To be eligible to run for the office, candidates need to be nominated by a political party, be over the age of 35, speak Uzbek fluently, and must have lived in the country continuously in the last 10 years.
For the election to be valid turnout must exceed 33%, while the winner must receive more than half of the vote. If none of them are able to do so, the top two candidates will compete again in a runoff election.
Nearly 800 international observers are monitoring the election, including those from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization of Turkic States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
More than 2,000 local and foreign journalists were on duty during the election.
Mirziyoyev has held Uzbekistan's top office since an election held in December 2016, weeks after the death of the country's first President Islam Karimov. He was reelected in 2021.