Uzbek president wins 2nd term in landslide victory

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan

Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been re-elected as president of Uzbekistan, the country's election commission said Monday.

Mirziyoyev, a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party, received 80.1% of the vote, Zayniddin Nizamhocayev, chairman of the Central Election Commission, announced at a news conference.

"According to the electoral law in the country, the candidate who receives more than half of the votes cast will be considered the winner," Nizamhocayev said.

More than 16.21 million people cast their votes in the presidential elections held on Sunday, he added, noting that the voter turn-out was 80.4%.

"The presidential election, which took place in a real competitive environment between five political parties and their candidates, is a clear indication that freedom and democracy are increasingly being consolidated in Uzbekistan," he said.

No complaints about irregularities in the election were reported, he went on to say.

The country with a population of about 35 million people, has a total of more than 20 million registered voters. As many as 10,760 polling stations were set up across the country for the presidential election.

Other candidates included, Narzulla Oblomuradov from Ecology Party, Maksuda Vorisova from Peoples Democratic Party, Alishir Kadirov from National Revival Democratic Party, and Bahrom Abdulhalimov from Justice Social Democratic Party.

Over 1,000 international observers from more than 50 countries followed the elections, as well as organizations including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Turkish Council and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In September 2016, when the first president of the country, Islam Karimov, who ruled for 27 years, passed away, Mirziyoyev won in the early elections held in December of the same year, receiving 88.61% of the vote of public against his three opponents.