On December 5, Uzbekistan's voters will go to the polls for the second time since independence in 1991 to elect 250 deputies to the Olii Majlis, or parliament. Despite government claims that elections will be free and pluralistic, the parliamentary and local council elections will be a highly-controlled exercise in Potemkin democracy. With no opposition parties, no free media and a tight rein on independent candidates, voters do not have the ability to freely choose their representatives.
International organizations have determined that pre-election conditions do not meet basic requirements for a free and fair poll. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has recognized that "fundamental freedoms necessary for the emergence of a genuine opposition, as well as for a free and unhindered campaign" are lacking. The OSCE therefore announced on November 22 that it would send only a Limited Assessment Mission of 19 persons to Uzbekistan, instead of a full mission to observe the vote.
The domestic Uzbek media have distorted this issue, however, repeatedly asserting that these representatives are "international election observers" who have come to confirm the democratic nature of the vote.
Political Parties
Uzbek officials have stressed that five registered political parties have nominated candidates for seats in parliament. None of the five, however, have voiced any disagreement with government policies, and President Karimov himself in June admitted that he couldn't tell the difference between them.
There are no legal opposition parties in Uzbekistan. The government has refused to register the two opposition parties formed in Uzbekistan in the early 1990s, Birlik (Unity) and Erk (Freedom). In August, a court convicted several prominent members of the Erk party of anti-state crimes, ignoring the defendants' accusations that their confessions were coerced under torture. The President has repeatedly accused Erk's leader, Mohammad Solikh, in exile since 1994, of masterminding the February 1999 Tashkent bombings as an attempt on his life. Other current and former members of these parties are subject to frequent harassment and surveillance.
Independent Candidates
Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Chairman Najmiddin Komilov has touted the registration of 132 independent candidates as evidence of a pluralistic process. Evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch suggests that the registration and campaign efforts of these non-party unaffiliated candidates was in fact highly constrained.
Several would-be candidates in Bukhara province reported being told by the provincial electoral commission that they could not stand for election in their home districts, even though the deadline for registration had not yet passed. Instead the commission proposed that they run in neighboring districts where they would have less of a chance both to gather the signatures necessary for registration and to win support from unfamiliar voters.
State Interference in the Campaign
Once registered, candidates face considerable obstacles in their campaigns. The Central Electoral Commission under Chairman Komilov seems determined to control even normal campaign activity-which he has denounced as "undermining the democratic basis of elections"-including campaigning at workplaces or in residential areas, meeting with heads of neighborhood organizations, and the like. Komilov further prohibited candidates from printing more than 5,000 copies of campaign materials and banned any campaign-related broadcasts on cable television.
Independent candidate Shukhrarh Bafaev complained bitterly to Human Rights Watch of the intense controls placed on candidates by the CEC: "The whole campaign is carried out under the guidance of the election commissions. When I want to go meet potential voters, I first have to let them [the CEC] know. Then they can go and tell the people that I am coming." Bafaev alleged that CEC representatives went so far as to instruct the voter groups as to what questions they could pose in upcoming discussions with the candidate and what issues they would not be allowed to raise.
A Human Rights Watch representative witnessed an example of this on-the-spot censorship during a campaign meeting in Bukhara, where the local election commission representative interrupted audience members' comments and advised citizens that certain areas of questioning were off-limits.
Government-favored candidates enjoy access to state resources to advance their campaigns. Human Rights Watch representatives noted employees of the Tashkent municipal government canvassing apartment buildings four days before the vote to deliver leaflets in support of the executive of one of Tashkent's municipal districts.
Media
The government tightly controls the print media in Uzbekistan and subjects it to Soviet-style prepublication censorship. Criticism of government policies is strictly forbidden.
According to Internews, an international NGO that supports the growth of independent media, state agencies refused to re-register two of the twenty-four privately-owned Uzbek television stations in November, although they had submitted their applications on time. Another privately-owned station was deprived of two-thirds of its broadcast hours, which were then re-allocated to the competing state-owned station. In contrast, two private stations owned or directed by persons occupying government posts were recently re-registered without any problem. Human Rights Watch is concerned that these closures, coming in the month before parliamentary elections are due to take place, narrow the already minuscule space available for sources of information other than official government media, and move Uzbekistan even further away from the freedom of information necessary for the democratic process.
Election Monitors
Uzbekistan's electoral law allows for citizens to be registered as vote monitors. Several NGOs across the country have successfully registered their members as monitors, but the government has obstructed many individuals who attempted to register as monitors.
