Excerpts from report by the Uzbek newspaper 'Khalq Sozi'
The incumbent Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, is expected to
gain 98.8 per cent of the votes in the January 2000
presidential election according to a recent poll, the `Khalq
Sozi' newspaper reported on 26th October. It said the poll,
which was conducted in September 1999, also showed that 89.3
per cent of the electorate intended to vote. The following are
excerpts from the report, entitled "Public opinion is a sign of
citizens being politically active"
[Subheading] Interest in and attention to public opinion
is growing as the elections [to the Uzbek parliament on 5th
December 1999 and for the presidency on 5th January 2000] are
drawing closer and democratic principles are becoming
increasingly important in our mode of life. [Passage omitted:
Questions that might be asked of the public] Our correspondent
has spoken to the director of the republican Social Opinion
Centre for the Study of Public Opinion, Professor Rano
Ubaydullayeva.
[Passage omitted: polling organizations may have
shortcomings but aren't inactive; lack of experience isn't a
problem; public opinion was neglected in the Soviet period; key
party officials never got elected, but were appointed; present
elections involve five parties]
[Q] Your centre has been engaged in lively research on the
elections. Could you please give specific examples and which
areas does it mainly involve?
[A] We have already got the results of two pieces of
comprehensive public opinion study research. The first one is
entitled "Uzbekistan in the runup to democratic elections", and
the second "Elections-99". A total of 3,671 were polled during
them. This figure is considered the highest in public opinion
study. During our survey we tried to encompass the whole of our
country to ensure the fairness of the research. Urban and
rural, male and female populations, people of various ages, and
unemployed and employed took an equal and active part in it.
Let us tell our newspaper readers about some results produced
by our sociological research, conducted in September.
According to the results produced by the research, the
population is showing electoral activeness in the forthcoming
presidential and Supreme Assembly [parliament] elections. In
other words, 89.3 per cent of the citizens who have the right
to vote said they would take part in the elections. To be
precise, 92.2 per cent of the rural electorate, 85.5 per cent
of the urban electorate, 95 per cent of the male voters and 88
per cent of the female voters are hoping to participate in the
elections. Naturally, the figures will change as the elections
draw nearer.
In response to an open question as to: "Which political
figure would you vote for if the presidential elections were to
be conducted tomorrow?", 98.8 per cent of those polled opted
unanimously for [incumbent President] Islam Karimov. Islam
Karimov enjoyed almost equal support from the urban and rural
population, men and women, young and elderly people and
employed and unemployed.
Asked: "Which political parties operating officially today
do you know?", the majority of those polled - 38.6 per cent -
said they knew the People's Democratic Party, 17.8 per cent -
the Fidokorlar National Democratic Party, 13.4 per cent - the
Adolat [Justice] Social Democratic Party, 9.6 per cent - the
Vatan Taraqqiyoti [Homeland Progress] Party and 4.3 per cent -
the Milliy Tiklanish [National Revival] Party.
There were an almost equal number of responses (49.7 and
51.3 per cent, respectively) to the question of :"Whom would
you cast your vote for if you were to chose between a nominee
of a political party and an independent candidate in the
Supreme Assembly elections ?"
Of all those polled 97.2 per cent supported our leader's
idea that "the forthcoming elections to the presidency and the
Supreme Assembly must not be a reason for our people to be
divided with regard to regionalism, nationality or other
aspects".
The survey results revealed one more fact: Elections to
the main institutions of democracy - the presidency, the
Supreme Assembly and the local authorities - have become deeply
entrenched in the lives of our country's citizens. This is
considered important political progress.
I would also like to tell newspaper readers that the
results of the November survey will become known in a few days.
The results are interesting and important because of their
diversity as well as dramatic changes in some figures from the
ones we have today. [p1,2]
Source: 'Khalq Sozi', Tashkent, in Uzbek 26 Oct 99 p*
BBC Mon CAU 281099/** AJC/SA