In accordance with the strategy of Actions on the five priority directions of the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fair and humane reforms are being consistently implemented in various spheres of the country's social life. First of all, special attention is paid to the careful development of the legal basis of these reforms and its implementation in the life of the state and society. After all, just as a building with a solid foundation lasts for centuries, reforms with a thorough legal foundation will serve positive changes, prosperity and development in the life of society and people for hundreds of years.
In accordance with the strategy of Actions on the five priority directions of the development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fair and humane reforms are being consistently implemented in various spheres of the country's social life. First of all, special attention is paid to the careful development of the legal basis of these reforms and its implementation in the life of the state and society. After all, just as a building with a solid foundation lasts for centuries, reforms with a thorough legal foundation will serve positive changes, prosperity and development in the life of society and people for hundreds of years.
In particular, the national electoral system of our country and its legal foundations are being further improved, the will of our people, which is compatible with our national values and universal principles, is more widely absorbed into the electoral legislation, and the implementation of the acceptable recommendations given by international observers in the past elections into the national legislation and practice. issues are in the constant focus of industry officials. After all, one of the important and necessary conditions of democracy is the open, transparent, and fair organization and conduct of the election process in accordance with the national election legislation that fully meets international election standards.
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, citizens of our country have the right to participate in the management of society and state affairs directly and through their representatives. provided by organization. One of the important conditions for the democratic organization of state bodies is elections held on the basis of the principles of legality, equality, fairness, transparency, periodicity, and the right of voters participating in these elections to freely express their will.
The law "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the improvement of the electoral legislation" adopted on February 8, 2021 is intended to further strengthen the guarantee of the electoral rights of our citizens, as well as to further align the national electoral legislation with international election standards. It is significant because it is aimed at rapprochement, harmonizing with the electoral practice of advanced foreign countries, eliminating some shortcomings observed in the previous elections, further increasing the political influence of our country, and further improving its position in international ratings and indexes.
In accordance with this law, the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Constitutional Law "On the results of the referendum and the basic principles of the organization of state power", the Law "On financing political parties" and the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan Changes and additions have been made.
It is known that in accordance with Article 117 of our Constitution, the Presidential election, the elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and the Dzhokorg Council of the Republic of Karakalpakstan and local representative bodies shall be held on the first Sunday of the third ten days of December in the year when their constitutional term of office expires. were held. According to the new amendment to the law, the date of holding elections in our country is being moved to the first Sunday of the third ten days of October. There are several reasons for this:
First of all, for many years, the issue of moving the elections to another season of the year, to warm days, has been in the center of discussions. In addition, state and non-state organizations, political parties, civil society institutions, election commissions responsible for preparing and conducting elections in February 2020 in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the centers of Tashkent city by the Central Election Commission and the most common proposal expressed by the participants of the roundtable discussions with the participation of mass media representatives was the proposal to move the election period to October. Also, more than seventy percent of the proposals submitted by our citizens to the commission through the mass media, in particular through social networks and social polls, supported this particular proposal. So
, it would be true if we say that the initiator of moving the elections from December to October is primarily the wishes of the citizens of Uzbekistan, our voters.
Secondly, during the consideration of the draft law by the parliamentary chambers, the legislation and experience of about 20 foreign countries were studied. The analysis showed that mainly in the countries of the southern hemisphere with a warm climate, such as Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Venezuela, Dominica, San Marino, elections are held in December, while the USA, Switzerland, Spain, Uruguay , and in countries such as Chile, Bosnia, Russia, Belarus, Jordan, and Moldova, elections will be held in September-November. It can be seen from this that the postponement of the elections to the autumn season (October) is a positive experience that has proven itself in all aspects and has been tested in the experience of foreign countries.
Thirdly, it is known that after the election of deputies of the Parliament and local councils, elections to the Senate of the Oliy Majlis will be held in our country, the executive power, i.e. the Cabinet of Ministers, will be formed anew, and the candidate of governors in the regions will be discussed and reconfirmed at the sessions of the councils of people's deputies. An address of the President of the country to the Oliy Majlis and the people of Uzbekistan is presented. Our people will be in the midst of New Year holidays. Therefore, after the elections, a suitable ground will be created for the timely formation of the higher and local state authorities, for planning their work in a full-fledged form, and for making important political and legal decisions. Also, negative situations such as a decrease in the participation of citizens in elections in unfavorable weather conditions are avoided. In this way, favorable conditions are created for voters and observers.
Fourth, as we all know, the election process requires hard work and organizational work. The cold weather in December complicates the work of those responsible for these tasks. Holding the elections in the autumn months, which are more moderate, will make it easier for all citizens, election organizers and participants, as well as local and foreign observers. It serves to ensure that the persons involved in the election carry out their work with quality and diligence. The main goal is to organize and conduct this political process at a high level, in a good mood, and to expand the guarantee of citizens' electoral rights. Therefore, it can be observed that the postponement of the elections to October is positively evaluated and supported by our people.
In accordance with the changes introduced into the Election Code, the institution of district election commissions conducting elections to district (city) Councils of People's Deputies is abolished, and their powers are assigned to district (city) election commissions. The analysis of the past elections showed that each district election commission, which conducts elections to district (city) councils of people's deputies, operates within a maximum of 3 (in some cases, one) polling stations, and has been operating ineffectively for several years. came As a result, the relevant district (city) and district election commissions had to repeat each other's tasks. Also, additional expenses were made from the state budget for this election structure. As a result of the liquidation of this institution, there will be no need to organize about 5,750 district election commissions consisting of more than 54,000 members, there will be no need for so many buildings allocated for their accommodation, human resources will be saved, and there will be an end to wandering among the people involved in the organization of the election campaign. and more than 33 billion soums of state budget funds will be saved.
Another important change is the procedure for including citizens of Uzbekistan living abroad in the voter list at the polling stations established in those places, regardless of whether they are in the consular account of diplomatic missions, as well as outside the polling station, abroad. a legal basis is being created for the voting of our citizens living or working in crowded places through portable ballot boxes. This practice was tested for the first time in the parliamentary elections held in 2019 based on the decision of the Central Election Commission. In particular, more than 90,000 Uzbek citizens residing in Russia, South Korea, and Kazakhstan organized early voting with portable boxes outside the building where the polling station is located, that is, in crowded places where our voters live or work. participated in the giving process. The fact that this experience has shown its positive results in practice, no matter where our citizens are
This procedure was included in the Electoral Code due to the fact that it is protected by the state, its rights and freedoms and legal interests are ensured, and it was the reason for the positive recognition of the international community.
The next change is that the duty of district and district election commissions to help organize meetings with voters of non-specific candidates, to warn voters about the place and time of the meeting, has been canceled. Because, according to the election code, only political parties have the authority to nominate candidates. Political parties and their candidates are interested in introducing their programs and getting more voters' votes for their candidates through meetings with voters, holding campaign events. Election commissions have nothing to do with this process, but even so, in practice, election commissions have been entrusted with a task that is not unique to them. Now this shortcoming in the electoral law has been eliminated.
Another innovation in the law is aimed at ensuring transparency regarding the participation and financing of political parties in the election, according to which the interim report on the state funds allocated for the financing of the political party's participation in the election must be submitted before the election day and the results of the election. after the announcement, it was decided to submit the final report to the Central Election Commission and to publish the results of the financial activity of political parties by the Accounts Chamber of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the mass media.
The Election Code was supplemented with a new Article 27. According to it, citizens living in foreign countries can register themselves as voters in written form to the precinct election commission established at diplomatic and other representative offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in foreign countries or electronically through the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan. it was determined that he can apply for inclusion in the list up to fifteen days before the election. There was no such practice before. Citizens living in foreign countries are registered in the diplomatic and other representative offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in foreign countries, only if they come to the polling station in person and are included in the list of voters of the polling stations created there. In 2019, based on the decision of the Central Election Commission, this practice was tested as an experiment. It was recognized by our citizens living abroad. Therefore, this norm was strengthened in the Election Code.
If we briefly touch on other innovations in the law, the use of state resources during the election campaign is prohibited. For example, civil servants, unless they are a trusted representative, as well as military personnel, employees of religious organizations, and judges, were prohibited from campaigning;
The order was established that observers of polling stations established in places of detention and deprivation of liberty, in military units, should inform about their visit at least 3 days in advance;
The Law "On Financing of Political Parties" was coordinated with the Election Code, and the procedure for state financing of the presidential election was established along with the elections to the parliament and local representative bodies;
In order to prevent the period of announcement of election results from being unreasonably extended, the period for appealing the decisions of election commissions was reduced from 10 days to 5 days.
These innovations aimed at the democratization of the electoral legislation bring our national electoral legislation into line with universally recognized international electoral standards, serve to ensure that electoral processes are open and transparent, avoid negative situations such as a decrease in the participation of citizens in elections, and provide comfortable conditions for observers and voters. will be created, after the elections there will be enough opportunity to form the state authorities in due time and make important political decisions, in addition, the place of Uzbekistan in the democracy index of the world countries will be improved.
In short, Uzbekistan sees its progress in building a democratic legal state based on humanitarian principles, which is no secret to anyone. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the elections, which are considered the most important of democratic processes, are carried out only within the framework of the law and to actively participate in them. Organization and holding of elections based on the legal norms recognized by the international community and our national legislation will serve the stable development of our country politically, economically and socially for many years.
Lord
Mamatov
Secretary of the Central Election Commission, doctor of legal sciences, professor
Issue 23 (23,459) of "Zarafshon" newspaper dated February 25, 2021
