Uzbek president cements power with election win

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (AFP):

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has won a third term that will keep him in charge of the gas-rich country until 2030 as international observers said Monday the vote had lacked “genuine” competition.

Mirziyoyev, who was running against three largely unknown candidates, won Sunday’s election with 87 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results.

The 65-year-old has promised to open up Uzbekistan to foreign investment and tourism and implement major reforms in Central Asia’s most populous country.

“Uzbekistan’s presidential election lacked genuine political competition despite some efforts to reform,” an election monitoring mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in a statement.

Urszula Gacek, the head of the mission, said her organisation urged the country to “take bolder measures towards a true democracy that includes all citizens”.

A former Soviet republic, Uzbekistan is wedged between Russia and China and shares a border with Afghanistan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Mirziyoyev on a “convincing electoral victory.”

The win “confirms your high political authority and points to the broad, popular support for your policy of large-scale reforms,” he wrote.

The two also spoke on the phone and discussed their “strategic partnership”.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping also congratulated Mirziyoyev in a phone call.