After the start of the presidential elections on July 23 this year, the Central Election Commission (CEC) worked to cover this important political process, and consequently, a Press Center was established for the purpose of improving legal knowledge and electoral culture of the population, as well as launching a temporarily centralized campaign system in the country.

The Central Election Commission made an appropriate decision on the establishment of the Press Center and its territorial divisions, and approved the charter of the center. According to this, the press center will host seven specialized groups of experienced journalists, lawyers, translators, experts and other professionals.

The primary functions of the Press Center are to develop plans and implement tasks related to election coverage involving the preparation and holding the presidential elections, as well as, documents regarding to the accreditation of local and foreign media, and also, briefings and press conferences for representatives of mass media on the main stages of the elections.

The Center is also responsible for the regular study, monitoring, analysis and submission to the Central Election Commission of the results of the preparation and conduct the presidential elections, as well as information published in the national and foreign media about the election campaign of candidates and their proxies. During the reporting period, there was also tasked with providing overall leadership and coordinating the work of the regional press centers.

It is necessary to create appropriate platforms for candidates of political parties and their proxies in press centers for campaigning through televised debates, develop a unified information strategy to cover the electoral process, stimulate regional media centers to conduct their activities through modern images «Elections 2021» tasks, such as setting requirements, and to date, significant work has been done in this direction.

Experienced journalists of the country, specialists who took an active part in covering previous election campaigns were selected for the press center of the Central Election Commission. Over the past period, with the help of the media, they inform the population about the work carried out by the Central Election Commission in accordance with a special calendar plan of the election campaign.

The press center prepares and maintains the web portal of the Central Election Commission «Elections 2021» and mobile applications «Elections 2021».

The Press Center creates and distributes various information approaches and information content (videos, articles, TV reports, etc.) in order to inform voters about the electoral process, popularize electoral legislation among the public.

In general, since the establishment of the Press Center, many conferences, press cafes, briefings and other informational events have been held jointly with the press service of the CEC. TV and radio journalists, Internet correspondents, our colleagues working in newspapers and magazines were involved in these events. Within the framework of such events, about a thousand news, reports, analytical articles, interviews, blitz tests and many other journalistic materials in other formats were published in all mass media of the country.

Currently, the center is systematically working to cover the current activities of the Central Election Commission. In particular, on July 28, a press conference was held at the Press Center to inform journalists about the activities of the Election 2021 mobile application, the Election 2021 Internet portal http://saylov2021.uz and the conditions created in the Press Centre. On July 29, a mandate ceremony and a briefing for plenipotentiary representatives of political parties took place. On August 7, the Central Election Commission (CEC) held a «no-tie» press conference to encourage journalists and bloggers to work together, remove «invisible curtains» and create a friendly and cordial atmosphere. Over 120 journalists and bloggers attended the meeting that make a warm impression on everyone.

During the meeting attended by media representatives, independent journalists and bloggers, Chairman of the Central Election Commission Zayniddin Nizamkhodjaev, his deputy Bakhrom Kochkarov and a member of the CEC Sherzodkhon Kudratkhodja provided full answers to the audience’s all questions.  

At the event took place in a warm and open atmosphere, the journalists exchanged views on the preparation and conduct of the presidential elections. Representatives of the Central Election Commission emphasized the historical need to work with the media and bloggers to provide broad and impartial coverage of this important event.

Zayniddin Nizamkhodjaev noted that «the role of not only the Central Election Commission, but also journalists and bloggers is significant factor in the honesty and transparency of elections».

To date, the Press Center of the Central Election Commission has held more than 10 different events on such important issues, in which more than 800 local and foreign journalists took part.

The registration and accreditation of media personnel to cover the electoral process is a common legal practice around the world. In Uzbekistan, Article 35 of the Election Code provides that the powers of the media must be confirmed by documents issued by the Central Election Commission, regional, district and city election commissions, and media representatives from other countries must be accredited by the Central Election Commission. To date, 859 representatives of 45 local media are registered, including television and radio companies, print and Internet publications. In addition, 48 journalists from 29 foreign media were accredited, including, the Azerbaijani news agency AzerTac,  Great Britain’s broadcasting companies as «BBC», «Sky News», «Reuters» agency, «The Economist» journal, Iranian «IRIB» TV and Radio company, «Fars news» agency, Kazakhstan’s «Kazinform» and «Khabar» agencies, «Kursiv» newspaper, Chinese «Xinhua» agency, Russian «VGTRK», «New Age», «Interfax», «Russia Today», «Sputnik» and «TASS» information agencies.

In a word, today the Press Center of the Central Election Commission broadcasting all stages of electoral campaign of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan that is an important political process in our country. This serves to further strengthen the legal knowledge of the population about elections, to further enhance the electoral culture of our compatriots, especially young people.

Jaloliddin USMАNOV,

Advisor to the Chairman of the

Central Election Commission

on information policy

- Central Election

Press Secretary of the Commission