OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY ARE IMPORTANT CRITERIA OF ELECTIONS

Bilateral agreements have been signed between the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the National Tele-radio Company of Uzbekistan, the Uzbekistan National News Agency, the Jahon news agency, the National Association of Electronic Mass Media and the Uzreport news agency on coverage of the preparation and conduct of the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, M.Abdusalomov, has said that in the past years an effective electoral system was formed in the country and that citizens’ socio-political activeness rose.

During the election campaigns of the past years, extensive experience was garnered of cooperation with mass media in widely informing the public about all the phases of the preparation and conduct of elections. Mass media have an important role in the conduct of elections in conformity with such democratic principles as openness and transparency.

In accordance with Article 5 of the law “On elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and the main events programme approved by the Central Electoral Commission for the preparation and conduct of the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, mass media give wide coverage of electoral processes.

The signed agreements are directed towards organizing effective explanatory work among the population on national electoral legislation, including the relevant provisions of the country’s Constitution, laws “On guarantees of citizens’ election rights”, “On elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, “On the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan” and other norm-setting legal acts regulating electoral processes.

Mass media’s possibilities will be used widely in arranging interviews with members of the Central Electoral Commission, scholars and specialists in the area of electoral legislation for raising voters’ legal culture.

Effective work will be initiated on informing the public in a timely manner about the implementation of the main events programme for the preparation and conduct of the elections of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and on familiarizing the country’s population on a constant basis with the opinions of statesmen and public figures, experts and analysts and representatives of mass media of foreign states.

As part of the implementation of the agreements, the work of all the electoral commissions will be given media coverage in a consistent manner. Special attention will be paid to creating wide and equal opportunities for candidates for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to use mass media for the purpose of electoral campaigning, including through providing equal airtime and print space for them to present their election platforms to voters and members of the public, stances and views contained in those platforms on issues of the socio-political and socio-economic development of Uzbekistan.

UzA