Interview with the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mahmud ISTAMOV.

Interview with the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mahmud ISTAMOV.

- One of the main principles of holding elections is related to ensuring openness and transparency. How will this principle be ensured in this year's elections?

- The elections to be held on December 22, 2019 to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, People's Deputies to regional, district and city councils will be fundamentally different from the previous ones. Because, not only our people, but also the people of the world see, observe with admiration and envy, and are well-wishers, what great positive changes and improvements are taking place in the domestic and foreign policy of our country. Our country, people, society, people's thinking is changing. It is difficult to equate today's Uzbek land with Uzbekistan three or four years ago. The political consciousness and culture of the citizens of our country is growing, democracy, openness and transparency are being ensured in the society.

In addition, this year's elections will be held on the basis of the newly adopted Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The fact that this document contains more than thirty new norms and rules that serve to hold elections in a democratic, transparent manner based on universally recognized international standards and principles, the removal of many previously applicable restrictions is one of the high results of the reforms in the field of elections in our country. It is worth noting that the improvement of the electoral legislation was carried out based on the electoral practice, in turn, now the electoral legislation is a major factor in the development of the electoral practice.

Now every vote in the elections will be taken into account, and every citizen will directly participate in the formation of representative bodies of state power. Openness, openness and transparency are widely ensured in practice. This is reflected in the fact that election commissions of all levels - from precinct election commissions to the Central Election Commission - perform their work on the basis of high responsibility and the highest democratic principles. New Uzbekistan. It is not by chance that the vital words "New elections" were chosen as a slogan. This, in turn, serves to further democratize the political system of our country and deepen the process of political modernization.

- It is said that there will be more international observers than in the previous elections, in particular OSCE representatives will monitor all processes from election preparation to voting. How reasonable is it and what are the practical results?

- International observation of elections is a practice recognized in the world. Because the participation of observers from foreign countries and international organizations is one of the important conditions for holding democratic elections openly and transparently. For this purpose, the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan sent an invitation to the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/DIIHB) to assess the progress of preparations for the elections of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.

The needs assessment mission (NAM) positively evaluated the pre-election environment and the process of preparation for them, the measures taken to ensure free and democratic elections in our country. The OSCE Permanent Council found it appropriate to send a full-fledged observation mission to the elections in our country this year.

The adoption of the Electoral Code and its examination by the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission are fully supported. The report presented by the EBM lists important positive developments. The plans of the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan to widely inform the population about the upcoming elections, to organize cascade-style trainings throughout the country aimed at quality training of members of district and precinct election commissions on all aspects of conducting elections, to carry out systematic work on the prevention of "family voting", implementation of the single electronic list of voters, creation of necessary conditions for the participation of citizens with disabilities in voting are among these.

- Recently, you participated in the international symposium on "Effective use of information and communication technologies in conducting elections: Openness and audit opportunities" in Ankara, Turkey. What best practices in this area do you think should be introduced into the electoral system of our country?

- Today, there is not a field left where modern information and communication technologies have not penetrated. The electoral system is no exception

not o. The use of the electronic system in election processes not only facilitates the work of election organizers, but also serves to ensure the transparency of elections more widely.

In this regard, certain progress is being made in our country, which can be seen from the fact that the creation of the unified electronic list of voters (SYAER) is in full swing this year. This system was tested for the first time in December 2017 during the elections to the district councils of People's Deputies of Tashkent city. In order to eliminate some shortcomings of the system during the trial process, the decision of the head of our state in 2018 "On measures to introduce modern information and communication technologies into the election process" was adopted. Based on this decision, in cooperation with the relevant ministries and agencies, the full formation of SYAER is being completed.

Based on SYAER, the information system for managing the election process (SJBAT) was formed. It includes a number of tasks and provides an opportunity to allocate citizens to precinct election commissions, obtain information about the precinct related to the place where the voter lives, and facilitate the activities of district election commissions and precinct election commissions. Our compatriots who come to vote on the election day turn to SJBAT operators and pick up a ballot and support their candidate in the voting booth. As a result, a complete list of those who participated in the election will be formed automatically at the same time. This prevents one person from voting multiple times or one person from voting for the entire family.

At the same time, the "Election-2019" mobile application was developed in order to facilitate the activities of the Central Election Commission during the election process and to create additional convenience and opportunities. It includes electoral laws, information about election commission activists, methodological recommendations for voters, commission members, political parties and candidates, and observers, educational materials, books and articles on election activists, questions and answers on the topic of elections. A special link will also be posted to help voters find their polling station.

Regarding the international symposium held in Ankara on September 15-17, I would like to highlight one thing. During our meetings with our colleagues from different countries, it became clear that there is great interest abroad in Uzbekistan, in the rapid reforms implemented in our country, and in the elections that will be held this year. No matter who you talk to, we have noticed that there is a desire to come to our country, observe our fierce elections based on advanced democratic standards and learn about the experience of Uzbekistan.

- If you follow social networks, you will see that some of our compatriots have distrust towards the elections. Some are openly criticizing that the election is not true and fair, some are criticizing the fact that political parties appear only before the election, make promises, and then do not fulfill their promises... How would you respond to such opinions?

- My answer is clear: the time has come for our people to completely remove such doubts left from the past elections. Why?

First of all, it is very gratifying that our compatriots openly and boldly express their opinions in the mass media of our country, especially in electronic publications and social networks. At the same time, this is a special guarantee of honest and fair elections based on the principles of democracy, and a special form of public control. Where public control is strong, frauds that instill distrust and suspicion in people are prevented. In particular, during the elections. The freedom of speech and the press, which is becoming more and more firmly established in Uzbekistan, and the sudden revival in mass media and social networks, as we noted above, are a clear proof that our country is boldly showing itself to the world as a modern democratic state.

Aren't all of these important factors that serve to ensure that the elections are held on the basis of universally recognized democratic principles? One thing is certain: the debate and competition in this election campaign will be stronger and more interesting than ever. Please note that candidates of five political parties compete for one deputy mandate. If each political party sends one observer to each polling station on the day of the election, in addition, if there are also observers from local self-government bodies, candidates' proxies, observers from foreign countries and international organizations, foreign and local journalists and bloggers, all of them ( at least seven saccas

iz person!) will be able to falsify the results of the elections if they carefully monitor the voting process from start to finish? No, it won't! Such openness, transparency, large-scale observation was not observed in previous elections held in our country.

Voters will support whichever party and candidate best expresses the concerns, desires, and interests of the electorate in their pre-election programs. The candidate of that party will be eligible for the rank of deputy. This is both legal and natural.

There is no doubt that in the conditions of democratic pluralism, the tolerance and nobility, kindness, respect, high political and legal culture of our people will be widely manifested. During the election campaign, parties and candidates should not forget these ancient traditions and virtues of ours while entering into mutual competition and debate. As is the case in some countries, it does not correspond to the principles of democracy, nor the norms of morality, nor human spirituality, to make bad jokes about each other.

Another fact is that the conduct of elections based on the principles of multi-party and alternative, open and transparent, in accordance with democratic standards universally recognized in the world depends to a large extent on the political parties' careful preparation for this process and their active participation with deeply thought out new ideas, goals and programs. As the head of our state noted, "regardless of which party they belong to, the single and common goal that unites all our compatriots is our beloved Uzbekistan, its great future. This is the goal that calls us all to serve our motherland faithfully."

Reporter of UzA

Norgul ABDURAIMOVA

talked.