The election system of our country is being improved based on international standards based on our national values, as well as as a result of studying the legislation and practice of foreign countries and analyzing the experience of elections held in our country during the years of independence. There is a tendency to further strengthen the national characteristics of our mentality by making good use of the achievements achieved in accordance with the generally recognized principles.
The election system of our country is being improved based on international standards based on our national values, as well as as a result of studying the legislation and practice of foreign countries and analyzing the experience of elections held in our country during the years of independence. There is a tendency to further strengthen the national characteristics of our mentality by making good use of the achievements achieved in accordance with the generally recognized principles.
The electoral process is one of the most important constitutional-political relations recognized in the whole world, which gives citizens the opportunity to elect their representatives to state authorities. After all, one of the most important guarantees of citizens' participation in state management is the unhindered exercise of their electoral rights.
As the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M. Mirziyoyev noted, this campaign under the slogan "New Uzbekistan - new elections" is an extremely important event in the political life of our country. According to our constitution, citizens have the right to participate in the management of state and community affairs directly and through their representatives. Voting for the candidate you like or the program put forward by any party in the election, supporting them is a clear manifestation of representative democracy.
Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to participate in the governance of his country directly or through freely elected representatives. Everyone has an equal right to enter the public service in their country. The will of the people should be the basis of state (government) power. This will must be reflected in periodic and unfalsified, general and equal suffrage, by secret ballot or by other equally valuable forms that ensure freedom of voting. .
Now, we will pay attention to the extent to which these unique, universally recognized humane norms of international law are reflected in our national legislation.
Firstly, in accordance with Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, "Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan have the right to participate in the management of society and state affairs directly and through their representatives. Such participation is carried out through self-governance, holding referendums and democratic organization of state bodies, as well as development and improvement of public control over the activities of state bodies.
Secondly, in accordance with Article 117 of the Constitution, "Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan have the right to elect and be elected to representative bodies of state power. Each voter has one vote. The right to vote, equality and freedom of expression are guaranteed by law. Elections are held by secret ballot on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage. Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan who have reached the age of eighteen have the right to vote."
Thirdly, in accordance with Article 18 of the Constitution, "All citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan have the same rights and freedoms, regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, religion, social origin, faith, personality and social status. they are equal before the law".
Fourthly, in accordance with Article 7 of the Election Code, "Free and secret voting shall be given in the election. It is not allowed to control the will of voters. Secret voting is ensured by creating appropriate conditions that exclude the possibility of controlling the voter's will in any way.
Fifth, in accordance with Article 8 of the Election Code, "Preparation for the election and its holding shall be carried out openly and transparently by election commissions. Election commissions inform citizens about their work, about the formation of electoral districts, precincts, introduce lists of voters, lists of political parties participating in the election, provide information about voting and election results. does.
Mass media cover the progress of election preparations and how the election is going. Meetings of election commissions are held in public. Decisions of election commissions are announced in mass media or
It will be announced to everyone in accordance with the procedure established by the Election Code. Participation of observers from political parties, citizens' self-government bodies, other countries, international organizations, mass media representatives in all activities related to the preparation and conduct of the election, as well as in the polling booths and counting of votes on the election day. has the right".
It is possible to highlight the fact that norms generally recognized in international law, which do not contradict the national interests and values of Uzbekistan, are reflected in our national legislation through many examples. After all, Uzbekistan has fully implemented the main provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the national legislation.
On December 22, 2019, the elections of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the local councils of People's Deputies were held under the name "New Uzbekistan. "New elections" were held with a high level of organization. The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, election commissions of all levels established in the regions strictly adhere to the principles of independence, legality, collegiality, transparency and fairness in their activities, conduct the election in an open and transparent manner, our national laws, rich experience and universally recognized organized and conducted at a high level in accordance with the requirements of international standards. State power and management bodies, ministries and departments, state and non-state organizations, civil society institutions provided close support to the work of election commissions at all levels within their powers.
It should be noted that in the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh. Mirziyoyev dated November 6, 2018 No. PQ-4004 on preparing for and conducting elections, as well as ensuring the implementation of the constitutional electoral rights of citizens taking into account the generally recognized international principles and standards, the gradual liberalization of the electoral system and legislation was determined as one of the most important directions of further improvement of the electoral system of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
One of the goals of adopting the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the first time in the history of our independent country was to further improve the legal basis of the election system, taking into account modern international election standards.
Based on the above Decision, a training center on Election Law and modern technologies was established within the Central Election Commission. One of the main tasks of this center was to systematically monitor the compliance of national election legislation with universally recognized international principles and standards.
Clause 4 of the Declaration on the Criteria for Free and Fair Elections stipulates that states should adopt laws and take other measures in order to ensure the guarantee of rights in accordance with international legal obligations in order to hold real free and fair elections. The adoption of the Election Code is also a sign that our country has consistently fulfilled this requirement.
In international legal documents, election-related standards, the most basic principles and rules are universal, equal, direct suffrage, election by secret ballot, free and fair, valid election and such are defined.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Election Code stipulate that citizens have the right to elect and be elected to representative bodies of state power, that each voter has one vote, the right to vote, equality and freedom to express their will are guaranteed by law.
According to our basic law, elections are held by secret ballot on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage. Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan who have reached the age of eighteen have the right to vote.
According to Article 4 of the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, regardless of the gender, race and nationality, language, religion, social origin, faith, personal and social status, education, type and nature of the citizen's occupation. , has equal voting rights.
In the Election Code, the rules regarding the unified electronic list of voters of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which ensure the implementation of the principle of "one voter, one vote", were established.
According to international standards, states should allow candidates to contest freely for all seats in at least one chamber of the national legislative body during the general election process.
In this sense, one of the biggest innovations in our Electoral Code is that the political space is fully given to political parties, the quota set for the Environmental Movement c
it was revealed when it was thrown away. Political parties gained the right to nominate candidates in the Legislative Chamber elections in a full 150 constituencies, instead of 135, which meant that all seats in one house of the national legislature could be freely contested during the general election process. ensured that it was the same.
International standards stipulate that each participating state must provide women with the right to vote in elections without discrimination and the right to be elected to openly elected bodies under the same conditions as men.
According to Article 46 of our Constitution, men and women have equal rights. In addition, on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh. Mirziyoyev, on September 2, 2019, the Law "On guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men" was adopted. Chapter 4 of this law is specifically devoted to "Guarantees of equal rights and opportunities for women and men in the exercise of electoral rights." According to it, women and men have equal rights to elect and be elected to representative bodies of power. The political parties provided equal rights and opportunities for women and men in nominating candidates for deputy.
If before the laws mentioned only the legal bases of the activities of the Central Election Commission, the principles of independence, openness, non-interference in its activities, now the Election Code prohibits all election commissions and their members from any state bodies, public associations and officials. it was established that it should be carried out independently of individuals.
Initially, it was not planned that observers from the neighborhood would participate. It was noted that according to the new Election Code, observers from citizens' self-government bodies can participate in all elections. This served as a factor in ensuring civil monitoring of the elections, transparency, and increasing public confidence in the election process.
All of the above-mentioned points indicate that our national election legislation is in accordance with the requirements of generally recognized election principles and standards in the main international legal documents, and that strong guarantees have been established for the implementation of the constitutional rights of citizens related to the election and election to state representative bodies. .
At the same time, the elections held together showed the need to further improve the national election legislation and fill in the gaps. After all, the election process and democratization processes require keeping up with the times, studying foreign and international experience, improving and democratizing the electoral law and practice year by year, using the gained national experience more efficiently.
According to this request, the Central Election Commission has prepared an information brochure entitled "Election - 2019: achievements, problems, proposals" taking into account the proposals made by a number of state and non-state organizations, international observers and local experts, voters. The brochure, prepared in Uzbek, Russian and English, consists of 5 sections and 24 chapters. The steps related to the implementation and publication of the results are analyzed in detail. At the same time, in the pamphlet, the achievements, shortcomings and recommendations for their elimination have been developed.
Today, one of the main tasks is to improve our national election legislation, to bring it into line with universally recognized international standards and to harmonize it with the ongoing democratic reforms, to raise the political influence of our country to a new level, and to further improve its position in international ratings and indexes.
In particular, the requirement of the norm that "more than half of the members of the precinct election commission cannot be recommended from one organization" provided for in Article 25 of the Election Code is applied in the presence of diplomatic and other representative offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in foreign countries, in military units, sanatoriums, recreation establishing a rule of non-application for precinct election commissions established in homes, hospitals and other inpatient treatment facilities, places of detention and deprivation of liberty;
Alternativeization of the three-level system of election commissions, i.e. by abolishing the district election commissions that conduct elections to the district (city) councils of people's deputies and transferring their powers to the district (city) election commissions, their composition from eleven to twenty-one people
expansion;
the procedure for including citizens of Uzbekistan living abroad in the voter list, regardless of whether they are in the consular account of diplomatic missions or not, as well as voting in mobile boxes at the place where voters live or work in foreign countries, that is, when voting for voters strengthening the legal basis of voting in areas outside the polling station in the Election Code in order to create convenience;
instead of the procedure of obtaining permission from the local state authorities to hold public events within the pre-election campaign, it would be appropriate to introduce the practice of holding public events by informing the hokims before the event.
In conclusion, at the current stage of the national development of our country, as in various fields, the further improvement of the national election legislation in accordance with international standards and in accordance with the national experience serves development.
Khudoyor Mamatov,
Doctor of legal sciences, professor
