Presidential Election, 23 December 2007

In response to an invitation by Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry, ODIHR deployed a limited election observation mission to the 23 December presidential election.

The mission included a nine-member core team of election experts and was headed by Ambassador Walter Siegl. In addition, 12 seconded observers were deployed to Bukhara, Ferghana, Karshi, Nukus, Samarkand and Tashkent regions. Citizens of 16 OSCE participating States took part in the mission.

According to the mission's final report: "The 23 December 2007 presidential election took place within a tightly controlled political environment and failed to meet many OSCE commitments for democratic elections as laid down in the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document. While there were four candidates, including one woman and one candidate nominated by an initiative group of voters, the voters were nonetheless left without a real choice as all contestants publicly endorsed the policies of the incumbent president, Mr. Islam Karimov. Legal and administrative obstacles prevented political movements representing alternative views from registering as political parties or initiative groups, thereby precluding them from fielding presidential candidates."