The Presidential Elections held in Uzbekistan on July 9, 2023 resulted in the victory of the candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and the current President, Mr. Şevket Mirziyoyev. Mr. Mirziyoyev, one of the candidates competing in the elections with a 69,85% turnout, received 87,05% of votes; Justice Social Democratic Party candidate Robahon Mahmudova received 4,43% of votes, People’s Democratic Party Candidate Ulughbek Inoyatov 4,02% and Ecology Party candidate Abdusukur Hamzayev 3,74% of votes.
The Success of the Third Renaissance: Strong Democracy
Undoubtedly, the Uzbekistan elections reveal the stage the country has reached in adapting to multi-party political life and internalizing liberal democracy. Therefore, the vote rates of the candidates are also very important in terms of showing the distance covered in the transition to multi-party political life.
In fact, the President of Uzbekistan, Mirziyoyev, with the reforms he has implemented since 2016, to restore the center-periphery relations; that is, it wants to strengthen the state-nation unity. There is no doubt that; Mr. Mirziyoyev also knows that the way to this is through the strengthening of democracy.
The election results can be interpreted as the success of the Third Renaissance Movement led by Mr. Mirziyoyev. Because the Uzbek people made their choice in favor of stability and once again showed their support for the construction process of New Uzbekistan.
The Driving Force of the New Uzbekistan Construction Process: Reforms
At this point, it is possible to state that the country in question has exceeded two critical thresholds in terms of the reforms implemented in the context of the New Uzbekistan construction process. The first of these is the constitutional referendum on April 30, 2023, which received the support of 90% of the Uzbek people. With this referendum, the emphasis on the “secular and social state” was added to the Constitution of Uzbekistan, various arrangements were made for the healthy functioning of the free market, the determination on democratization was clearly demonstrated by transferring some of the powers of the President to the Parliament, and the freedom of property from education was clearly demonstrated. With the comprehensive steps taken in various fields, the state of law has been strengthened.
In fact, the Presidential Elections, which is the second critical corner, is a decision taken by Mirziyoyev in accordance with the spirit of the process after the amendments in the constitution. Thus, Mr. Mirziyoyev will work in a jurisdiction that is compatible with the legal basis laid down by the constitutional amendments. Because there is a Tashkent administration that does not want to waste time on reforms. At the same time, the Uzbek leader succeeded in restoring confidence through these elections.
The facilities provided to the elderly, sick and mothers with young children during the Presidential Elections, which took place in an environment of extremely fair competition, revealed the people-centered approach of New Uzbekistan. Moreover, not only human; Putting forward a perspective that also cares about the environment and other assets, the Third Renaissance Movement has shown to the whole world that an understanding of democracy that takes green, environment and climate change into account in the context of green economy is possible. Of course, this is an output of the reform process carried out with determination.
Why did the Uzbek people say stability?
At this stage, the question of why the Uzbek people chose stability should also be addressed. The answer to this question is understood from the change that the country went through between 2017-2022. Because in the aforementioned period, the foreign trade volume of Uzbekistan reached from 27 billion dollars to 50 billion dollars, its gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 30 billion dollars to 80 billion dollars, foreign direct investments increased from 3 billion dollars to 8 billion dollars, and the poverty rate fell from 30%. decreased to 14%. Moreover, the number of ministries, which was 61, was reduced to 28, making life easier for citizens and reducing bureaucracy. For this reason, the Uzbek people have made their choice in favor of prosperity, development and stability.
As can be understood, Mr. Mirziyoyev will continue to take decisive steps to achieve the goals he set in his election campaign. First of all, it should be noted that k; During the campaign, Mr. Mirziyoyev drew attention to the importance of education policies and stated that his aim is to enable the country to use its human potential in the most efficient way. This is not only the present of Uzbekistan, but also Mr. Mirziyoyev; At the same time, it shows that he thinks about his future and cares about it.
The second goal of Mr. Mirziyoyev is to create a prosperous society and within this framework, to create a sustainable development ground in the economy. For this reason, it is possible to argue that Uzbekistan will continue its economic liberalization process.
In addition, Mr. Mirziyoyev; He also made various statements regarding targets such as ensuring the rule of law, protecting water resources and the environment, strengthening the army and making serious breakthroughs in the industry, especially in the automotive sector.
In the final stage, Mr. Mirziyoyev aims to meet all the pre-school education needs of children and reach 100% schooling level by 2030, to provide clean drinking water to all population settlements, to end the housing problem by building 1 million additional houses, and to double the GDP to 160 billion dollars. He wants to deliver dollars.
As can be expected, Mr. Mirziyoyev’s promises during the election process convinced the public. Because there is a solid success that can be based on the data for the period of 2017-2022. Therefore, the Uzbek people also trusted the knowledge of Mirziyoyev, the architect of the Third Renaissance. For this reason, basically, building a democratic society, liberalizing the banking system and money circulation, developing new and fruitful methods in the fight against poverty, reforming the education system, ensuring the balance between the public and private sectors, modernizing agriculture and already positive relations with Central Asian countries. It can be foreseen that the reform process based on seven pillars will continue, such as the further development of relations at one level.
As a result, the Presidential Elections, which took place on July 9, 2023, revealed that the Uzbek people showed their will with great democratic maturity and the society said “stability and continuity”. Thus, the Uzbek people reaffirmed their trust in the Third Renaissance and, in this context, in Mirziyoyev, the architect of the New Uzbekistan construction process.
