The CEC International Press Center.

Time: 11.00 am. January 5, 2020

Dear participants of the briefing!

Ladies and gentlemen!

All of us are well aware that on December 22, 2019, a big political process - the election of deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and local Kengashes was conducted in Uzbekistan.

The elections were monitored by 825 international observers from ten international organizations and about 50 countries, as well as over 70,000 representatives from political parties and civil self-government bodies, and 1,200 accredited local and foreign media. For the first time, the elections were directly monitored by the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which welcomed the election.

International observers emphasized adoption of the new Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan fully match with universally recognized norms of international law, democratic electoral standards, positive outcomes from introduction of an automated election management system and a unified voter list in the current elections and 8-step seminar-trainings to improve knowledge and practical skills of election commissions members of all levels, high political and legal culture of voters, and their active participation in the voting process.

For the first time in the history of our country, candidates from five political parties competed in the elections under the slogan "New Uzbekistan - New Elections". In accordance with the decision of the Central Election Commission from 15th of November 2019, political parties registered 750 candidates for deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.

By December 21, 6 of the 750 candidates had voluntarily cancelled their participation in the elections from the list of candidates, and 744 candidates from five political parties competed for the 150 seats in the Legislative Chamber on December 22.

Following the election results, in accordance with the Decree of the Central Election Commission No. 1015 from 25th of December 2019 “On registration of deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 125 candidates from the election districts were elected to the Legislative Chamber.

Following the Decree of the Central Electoral Commission No. 1016 from December 25, 2019 “On conduction of repeat voting to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan at some electoral districts”, in 25 electoral districts, a repeat voting will be held among the candidates who obtained the largest number of votes and will held on January 5, 2020.

According to above-mentioned points, the second round of elections to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan at 1,730 polling stations in 25 electoral districts. The number of voters in these electoral districts is 3,148,921. Moreover, repeat elections to regional councils of people's deputies will be held at 1104 polling stations in 95 electoral districts, as well as 1,177 polling stations in 587 electoral districts will hold the repeat elections to district and city councils of people's deputies.

At 8:00 am this morning, the repeat voting process started in all polling stations.

Currently, regular communication with all electoral districts and polling stations is established.

More than 5,000 observers from polling stations, political parties and citizens' self-government bodies are also monitoring the elections.

According to Article 59 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan - the candidate who receives more votes in the second round than the other candidate is considered as elected. The percentage of voters' participation in the repeat voting is not taken into account.

The repeat voting process is conducted in full accordance with international standards and national electoral legislation, as well as democratic principles such as openness, transparency and fairness.

According to the Electoral Code, every citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan - a voter has equal voting rights. The election is free and private. Control over the will of voters is not permitted.

For voters who are not able to participate in an election, in accordance with the electoral legislation, polling station committees organize voting at a place where these voters are located. These requirements are strictly followed.

Dear participants of the briefing!

According to the results of the first round, 42 deputies of total 125, were elected from the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People - the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, 34 deputies from representatives The People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, 20 - the Adolat Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and 11 of them are members of The Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan.

Today, 15 of the 50 candidates for the repeat voting are representatives of the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Business People - the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, 11 - representatives democratic party of Uzbekistan «Milliy Tiklanish», 10 - the Adolat Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, 9 candidates – from people’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, representatives of the Democratic Party and 5 representatives of the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, of whom 18 are women.

Obviously, the fact that there will be an intense debate for each deputy seat in the repeat voting between political parties in order to gain a majority of seats in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Representatives of domestic and foreign media accredited by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as local journalists accredited in the regional electoral districts are actively covering the electoral process.

So far, the CEC has not received any information on violations of electoral legislation during the election process.

If any of our observers or voters, as well as media or bloggers, are aware of violations of the election legislation, it is recommended to call the administrative and prosecutor's offices in the regions via numbers available at electoral districts or contact directly to law enforcement agencies or higher election commissions.

We ask our voters to actively participate in the elections in the areas where repeat voting is taking place.

The Central Election Commission will hold a regular briefing to inform the public about the preliminary results of the second round of the elections tomorrow, January 6, at 1 pm.

Thank you for your attention!