Liberals win Uzbekistan legislative poll, consolidate majority to push reforms agenda

Election commission validates free-and-fair vote and announces preliminary results

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Oct. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of a campaign sprint leading up to Uzbekistan's first legislative election under the country's 2023 constitution, voters went to the polls on Sunday and rewarded a plurality to the largest party, the Liberal Democrats, who increased their share in the seat Oliy Majlis (Parliament) from 53 to 64 seats. Their coalition partner, the National Revival Democratic Party, declined from 36 to 29 seats. This presumably enables them to maintain the current coalition arrangement, aligned with the reform agenda of President Shavkat Mirzoyoyev, who won his 2nd mandate last year. A summary of the preliminary results follows:

Turnout was higher than expected, reaching nearly 75% by the time the polls closed, comprising over 15 million votes cast. The Central Election Commission cited the presence of more than 850 foreign and international observers, as well as 55,000 observers from political parties and more than 10,000 observers from citizens' self-government bodies. It also praised the IT system called "E-saylov" (Electronic Elections), launched on the eve of the elections, that enabled the digitization of many procedures to reduce bureaucratic obstacles and increase transparency.

The weekend poll marked the first time in Uzbekistan that a legislative election was conducted using a hybrid model similar to that of Germany, in which half of the 150 seats are selected by constituency "first past the post." The other half of the seats are selected proportionally via national party lists, for which all of the participating parties crossed the 7% threshold.