Uzbekistan: Liberal Democrats Win Legislative Elections

The Liberal Democratic Party and the Milliy Tiklanish (National Revival) party managed to retain a majority of seats in the lower house of parliament of Uzbekistan, one of the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Voter turnout was approximately 73% of eligible voters.

After 100% of ballots are counted, the Liberal Democratic Party will be represented in Uzbekistan’s parliament (150 seats in total) by 64 legislators (53 seats in the previous legislature), while Milliy Tiklanish will be represented by 29 legislators (36 seats in the previous legislature). Next are the Adolat (Justice) party with 21 deputies and the Party of Ecologists of Uzbekistan, which will be represented by 16 deputies.

A recent political reform in Uzbekistan abolished the absolute majority criterion (50% plus one) in favor of a relative majority (the candidate with the most votes wins). That is, on Sunday, October 27, legislative elections were held on the basis of the new majoritarian-proportional principle. Five parties are contesting for 150 seats in the Legislative Chamber, of which 75 were allocated through the single-member majority system, and the remaining 75 through the proportional method.

The Milliy Tiklanish Party, founded in 1995, emphasizes nationalist values and the preservation of cultural identity. The party has 762,000 members and is considered the “most right-wing” in the classification of the election commission, while the center-right party is the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, inspired by the values of economic liberalism and freedom of enterprise. Among the winners is the center-left Adolat party with 1.1 million members, which advocates “social justice and equality.” The latest to gain voter support was the Environmentalist Party, established in 2019 and focused on the transition to a green economy. Finally, the People’s Democratic Party, whose goal is to create a state committed to social justice with special attention to vulnerable and discriminated groups, failed to exceed the 5% voter support threshold and will not be represented in the Parliament of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s legislative elections introduced a number of innovations reflecting the highest international standards. Zainiddin Nizamkhodayev, Chairman of the Election Commission, cited as two examples “the level of digitalization used to make the electoral process as accessible as possible” and “the increasing role of women’s active participation in the political life of the Central Asian country, where at least 40% of deputies in each party are women.”