Uzbekistan elects new parliament

According to the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan, Zayniddin Nizamkhodjaev, Parliamentary elections started in Uzbekistan today with the opening of 11,028 polling stations across the country at 8 am (6:00 Moscow time).

"57 polling stations at diplomatic and consular offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 40 foreign countries, including polling stations created in the countries of the East, have also begun their work",

Zayniddin Nizamkhodjaev said.

This year's elections are the first to be held under a mixed electoral system based on the new version of the Constitution and national electoral legislation. Out of 150 seats in the lower house, 75 deputies will be elected in single-mandate constituencies, the remaining 75 will be chosen based on votes cast for political parties in a single constituency.

Five officially registered parties supporting the government's course and focused on domestic policy issues will compete for seats in the lower house of parliament. A total of 500 candidates on party lists and 375 candidates in single-mandate constituencies have been registered in the elections.

The electronic list of voters of the automated electoral process management system contains 19,944,859 residents of the country who have the right to vote. Another 165,631 voters are registered abroad.

The elections will be considered valid if 33% of registered voters cast their votes for the candidates. As of 11:00 (9:00 Moscow time), the Central Election Commission reported a voter turnout of 29.58%.

The voting will end at 20:00 local time (18:00 Moscow time).