Uzbek reformist strongman just a shoo-in as nation votes
Central Asian Uzbekistan staged a presidential election yesterday, with leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev facing no real opposition but plenty of challenges as he bids to reform the ex-Soviet country and still maintain its authoritarian foundations. Mirziyoyev has been credited for launching what he calls a “New Uzbekistan”, ending a decadesold system of forced labour and introducing limited media freedom.
He came to power in 2016 after the death of his mentor, dictator Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan for 27 years. Mirziyoyev presided over an unprecedented boom in foreign tourism in the country that borders Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and counts China and Russia among its partners. But as his first term ends, the 64-year-old is struggling to counter impressions that his government is sliding back towards the habits of his longreigning predecessor.
The effects of the pandemic have also blunted his initial economic achievements, with unemployment rife amid sharp rises in living costs.
“We expect changes. For instance, salary increases — our salaries are small and we don’t always get them,” said 20-yearold student Urazali Ergashev. He added that his mother, a teacher, often faced salary delays. Voting across the landlocked country of 34 million people was to start at 8am local time (0300 GMT) and last until 8pm (1500 GMT).
Prolonged isolation under Karimov meant that commodityrich Uzbekistan fell well short of its economic potential for most of independence.
It is against the founding president’s brutal rule that the successes of Mirziyoyev’s reforms have been judged.
His public disavowal of torture and campaign to clean up mass forced labour in cotton fields — where thousands of schoolchildren once toiled alongside their teachers — gained international praise. But the last two years have seen a crackdown on dissent, rights groups said, particularly in internet freedoms that bloomed after 2016.