Voting underway in Uzbekistan parliamentary elections

Tashkent/Moscow - Parliamentary elections in the authoritarian former Soviet state of Uzbekistan were underway Sunday, with a turnout of 57 per cent reported by noon local time by the electoral commission in the capital, Tashkent. The central Asian state, ruled by President Islam Karimov, has four parties, all backing Karimov, competing for the 135-seat lower house.

Around 500 candidates are standing in the election.

However, election observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have declared that the election has not been held under free circumstances.

A rebellion against Karimov's rule in the town of Anjijan in 2005 was bloodily repressed, leaving around 500 people dead, according to human rights groups.

Karimov allows no opposition parties which do not back his rule, and the country has no free media.

In December, the OSCE complained that Tashkent was refusing reforms and violating human rights.

Karimov, 71, won re-election as president in 2007 for another seven-year term. He has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1989.

Uzbekistan hosts the Termez airbase, used by western powers for operations in Afghanistan.

In 2005 the European Union lifted an arms embargo against the country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301126,voting-underway-in-uzbekistan-parliamentary-elections.html.