Uzbekistan: President has asked for new elections – Locally closed Kyiv pushes for membership pledge at NATO summit – the nightly update without photos

In the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan near Afghanistan, President Shawkat Mirsijoyev held new elections on Sunday. He wanted to be confirmed in office in the early elections after a constitutional amendment. The term of office is now seven years and no longer five years as before. Polling stations closed at 8 p.m. local time (5 p.m. CEST) on Sunday. By late afternoon, turnout was around 70 percent. The 65-year-old had no real challengers in the vote. The three competitors were considered pure tel candidates.

The results are expected on Monday. According to official figures, about 19.6 million Uzbeks were eligible to vote.

In May, Mirsiyoyev announced that the presidential election, originally scheduled for 2026, would be brought forward. Only at the end of April did the head of state approve a new constitution in a referendum, allowing him to stand for election again. His second term, which he assumed after the 2021 election, would have been the last without the new constitution and would have ended after five years.

In May, the Uzbeks voted with a large majority (90.21 percent) in favor of the new constitution. Parliament was also reduced in size. The president is supposed to serve only two terms. However, Mirsijoyev’s two previous terms since 2016 do not count.

Civil rights activists continue to complain about human rights violations in the former Soviet republic under Mirsiyoyev. However, the president had also significantly opened up the country to the West and allowed certain freedoms. With a similar procedure to stay in office, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had secured the chance of new candidacies. (sda/dpa)