Uzbekistan General Election Begins... Ruling Party Expected to Win

A general election to elect 150 members of the lower house began on the 27th (local time) in Uzbekistan, Central Asia.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan. [Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

The voting started at 8 a.m. and will end at 8 p.m. Uzbekistan's electoral system allocates 75 seats by constituencies, and the other half are determined by the nationwide vote share of each party.

This general election serves as a referendum on whether the people support President Mirziyoyev's series of reforms aimed at removing the remnants of the former Soviet Union. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is likely to win the election. Opposition parties generally support government policies, and there is little competition among parties.

In the December 2019 general election, the Liberal Democratic Party secured 53 seats, ranking first. It was followed by the National Revival Democratic Party with 36 seats, the Justice Social Democratic Party with 24 seats, the People's Democratic Party with 22 seats, and the Ecological Movement Party with 15 seats.