Central Asian nation re-elects president

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s mandate to lead Uzbekistan has been confirmed in a landslide victory

Uzbekistan’s incumbent president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was re-elected to another term in office on Sunday, the election authority of the Central Asian nations reported after counting most of the votes.

According to preliminary results released on Monday morning, the incumbent received over 87% of the vote, putting him well above the threshold of 50% plus one vote required to win the election in the first round.

More than 15.6 million people took part in the election – a turnout of just under 80% – according to the Central Election Commission. Less than 1% of the ballots were deemed invalid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the world leaders who congratulated Mirziyoyev on his success – first in a cable message on Monday, and later by phone. The two expressed their “mutual intention for comprehensive Russian-Uzbekistan relations,” the Kremlin press office said.

Mirziyoyev is the second person to be elected president in Uzbekistan since it gained independence in the wake of the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990s. He previously served as prime minister under President Islam Karimov.

READ MORE: Eurasian economic and security bloc expands

After Karimov died in office in 2016, Mirziyoyev was elected as his successor. He secured a second five-year term as president in 2021, but in April this year, Uzbekistan citizens voted in a referendum to change their constitution. The reform extended the presidential term to seven years and granted Mirziyoyev the right to run for office again under new rules.