Omon Mukhamedzhanov, Professor of Tashkent State Law University, Doctor of Law
Seven years ago, Uzbekistan entered a new stage of development. Over the past period, a large number of cardinal reforms have been implemented, covering all spheres of socio-political and economic life of society.
At the same time, democratic transformations aimed at ensuring a wide range of human rights and freedoms, liberalization of socio-political life, freedom of the media, which is reflected in the new version of the Constitution, have become among the most important directions. These reforms have also allowed to update the national electoral legislation, which facilitates the conduct of elections at a new level.
As known, the main stages of the electoral process are regulated by legislative acts: the appointment of elections, the formation of an organizational and technological basis, the nomination and registration of candidates, campaigning, voting, determining the results and their legitimization.
The right to nominate a candidate: how it is implemented
In accordance with article 37 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, political parties have the right to nominate a candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
According to article 62, a political party has the right to nominate candidates, provided that it is registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan no later than four months before the day of the announcement of the start of the election campaign.
Currently, five active political parties are officially registered in Uzbekistan. They include the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, the Social Democratic Party “Adolat”, the Democratic Party “Milliy Tiklanish”, the Liberal Democratic and Environmental Parties of Uzbekistan.
The Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan defines the list of documents that political parties should submit to participate in the presidential elections of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Thus, in accordance with article 63, in order to participate in elections, a political party must submit to the Central Election Commission:
- application for participation in the elections signed by the head of the party;
- a certificate of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan containing information on the registration of a political party;
- information about the future presidential candidate of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Based on the submitted documents, the CEC makes a final decision on the admission of the party to participate in the elections within five days and issues the authorized representative of the political party a registration certificate and approved forms of signature lists. The list of parties participating in the elections, in order of priority of receipt of applications, is published in the main mass media.
The candidates for the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan are nominated by the highest bodies of political parties.
A political party is entitled to nominate a candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan only from among party members or non-party candidates. A protocol is drawn up on the nomination of a candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The head of a political party submits an application to the Central Election Commission with a request to register a candidate for President and attached relevant documents. (article 64 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan).
For the election of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the CEC issues forms of signature lists of the established sample to political parties.
Registration of subscription forms
In accordance with article 34 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a political party that has nominated a presidential candidate has the right to appoint an authorized representative to attend meetings of the election commission, submit documents, verify the correctness of signature lists, and count votes.
The forms of signature lists are issued by the CEC after the announcement of the start of the election campaign. According to article 38 of the Code, voters have the right to put their signature in the signature list in support of one or more political parties.
The CEC places the logos of political parties on signature lists to inform voters more widely about political parties. This helps, on the one hand, to ensure that the voter has an accurate idea of which party he supports, and on the other – which political party has collected signatures.
The collection of signatures of voters is carried out at the place of work, service, study, residence, at election events, as well as in other places where campaigning and signature collection are not prohibited by law. Any forms of coercion and bribery of voters by the person collecting signatures entail liability established by law.
The signature list is signed by the person who collected the signatures, indicating his surname, first name, patronymic, and also certified by the head of the district, city branch of the corresponding political party and the seal.
Voters have the right to sign in support of one or more political parties or candidates. The specified information is entered by handwriting.
The correctness of the signature lists submitted by political parties is checked by the CEC within five days. At least 15 percent of the required number of signatures of voters and relevant information about the voters who signed the signature lists are subject to verification.
The CEC may create an expert group to verify the correctness of the subscription lists. It may include specialists of the internal affairs bodies, justice, as well as representatives of civil society institutions. They examine the accuracy of the filling, the corrections made to them, who filled them in and whether there are identical signatures. Authorized representatives of political parties also participate in the verification.
If a visual inspection reveals a violation of the law, these signature lists are returned to the authorized representative of the political party, and he is given a two-day period to fill in the gaps.
According to the results of the audit, an expert group draws up a conclusion for each political party. It will become the basis for the adoption of the relevant decision of the CEC, according to which permission or refusal of the right of a political party to participate in elections is given.
In general, the process of filling out signature lists by political parties is important in increasing the social activity of the electorate. ///nCa, 2 June 2023 (in cooperation with the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Turkmenistan)
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