According to the 32 article of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall have the right to participate in the management of public and state affairs, both directly and through representatives. Such participation shall be exercised by way of self-administration, holding referendums and democratic formation of state bodies, as well as development and enhancement of public control over the activity of state bodies. The procedure of implementing of public control over the activities of state bodies shall be defined by law.

It is well known that, due to conditions of family, work or study, more than millions of our citizens, temporarily or permanent basis lives in abroad.

Before in the elections could participate who was the list of council. This means that many of our compatriots did not participate in the election process.

In the current year, will be created all necessary conditions for citizens both who lives in Uzbekistan and in abroad.

The deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan Makhmud Ismatov, gave detailed information about this.

– In order to realization of constitutional right of the citizens of the Republic of the Uzbekistan, who lives abroad, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, developed and approved relative Provision.

It should be noted that on the issue of the participation of citizens abroad, they also expressed a number of opinions and recommendations of the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to monitor elections in Uzbekistan.

In particular, in the conclusions of the mission of the election observation bureau in 2014, 2015 and 2016, it was noted that several million citizens live outside of Uzbekistan, the legal framework is insufficient to ensure their constitutional rights. The expediency of creating, in accordance with the legislation, sufficient conditions for the widespread use of suffrage by citizens living abroad was emphasized.

Of course, we recognized these recommendations as justified and took them into account.

For the first time, a Regulation was developed on the procedure for the formation of polling stations at diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in foreign countries.

The provision stipulates that the Central Election Commission, in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assigns polling stations abroad to the respective constituencies in elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Previously, in elections to the Legislative Chamber, polling stations abroad were assigned to the constituency in the territory where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located. This may lead to a violation of the rule that when forming constituencies, the maximum allowable deviation of the number of voters in constituencies should not exceed ten percent. Therefore, we considered it inappropriate to secure foreign polling stations in one constituency.

Prior to this, only citizens on the consulate list were included in the list of voters residing abroad. For example, in the parliamentary elections of 2014, 13 thousand 280 citizens were included in the voters list.

According to the new regulation, the list of voters at polling stations abroad is compiled on the basis of data provided by the heads of these institutions.

Citizens can apply in writing to be included in the voters list at the precinct election commission abroad. In addition, they can submit an application to the precinct election commission abroad in electronic form for inclusion in the voters list at least fifteen days before the election via the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

To do this, they must indicate the surname, name and patronymic, date of birth, address of the last permanent residence in the Republic of Uzbekistan, address of the place of residence abroad, contact phone number and personal identification number of the individual.

The Foreign Ministry, in turn, provides summarized information about the additions to the voters list to the State Personalization Center under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan to make appropriate adjustments to the Unified Electronic Voter List, that is, the entry “citizen voted abroad” is made. At the same time, the principle of “one voter - one vote” must be adhered to.

Diplomatic missions and consular posts through the media or in another way notify citizens living abroad of a polling station abroad, the timing and procedure for including citizens living outside the Republic of Uzbekistan in the voters list of the corresponding polling station, days of early voting and the day of election.

In order to create additional amenities for citizens, some types of voting are summarized in the electoral law. So, in the densely populated places of residence of voters, the precinct election commission abroad can organize early voting at the place of residence of voters.

Early voting in densely populated places or places of work of voters is carried out in the presence of at least two members of the precinct election commission abroad, and an act is drawn up about this.

The new rules, introduced in accordance with the regulation, will create a solid legal basis for the implementation of the constitutional law of our compatriots living abroad temporarily or permanently.

Norgul Abduraimova

Correspondent UzA