Uzbek vote expected to extend Karimov's rule

Foregone conclusion: Uzbek President Islam Karimov receives his ballot at a polling station in Tashkent yesterday. Picture: AFP

TASHKENT

Monday, December 24, 2007

UZBEKISTAN, Globalnewscentre- voted yesterday in an election expected to extend President Islam Karimov's 18-year rule and condemned by the opposition as a Soviet-style one-man contest.

The Muslim state is at the heart of a geopolitical power struggle between the West and Russia, which still sees former Soviet Central Asia as its sphere of interest.

Karimov's ties with the West have been strained since he was condemned by the United States and Europe in 2005 when troops opened fire on a protest in the Uzbek town of Andizhan.

He looked relaxed as he cast his ballot at a polling station in the capital Tashkent. Western media were not allowed in.

"I believe people know what they are voting for — for tomorrow, for peace in our country, for our country's development and prosperity," he said in brief televised remarks.

Karimov, who turns 70 in January, tolerates little dissent in his ex-Soviet nation and public criticism of him is taboo. He faces three other candidates in a line-up analysts say is designed to give the election the veneer of a democratic vote.

Polls closed at 8pm (1500 GMT) across Central Asia's most populous nation, which ranges from western deserts near the Aral Sea to the fertile plains of the Ferghana valley in the east.

Preliminary official results and an assessment of the vote's fairness by the election monitoring arm of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were due on Monday.

Public criticism of Karimov is usually taboo, but some people ridiculed the vote.

"I didn't go. What kind of election is this?" said one 50-year-old Tashkent resident called Bakhrom. "I don't expect anything from this election."

Another man, who asked not to be named, said: "It's more like a monarchy. We've been ruled by the same person for almost 20 years. Some people say they are running out of patience." But in the old part of Tashkent, its narrow streets lined with mud-brick huts and mosques, many said they voted for Karimov.(Reuters)