Excerpts from report by Uzbek TV on 31st October

The Uzbek Central Electoral Commission has registered 133 of
the 193 independent candidates put forward to stand in the 5th
December parliamentary elections, Uzbek TV reported on 31st
October. It said the majority were refused registration because
the signatures they presented to back up their applications
included forgeries, although a number withdrew voluntarily and
four were refused registration because they had previous
convictions. The following are excerpts from the report.
[Presenter] The programme will begin with the subject of
the forthcoming elections [to the Uzbek parliament on 5th
December 1999 and the presidency on 9th January 2000].
[passage omitted: the past week was full of lively
election campaign; the Central Electoral Commission announced
the number of parliamentary candidates being nominated by five
parties]

(?Saida Davletova) reports from the Central Electoral
Commission [CEC] on the details of events which took place
today [31st October].

[Davletova, with CEC building in the background and later
over video of a meeting] If you analyse the outcome of Sunday's
[31st October] meeting of the CEC, you could conclude the
following: given the problems that exist, such as introducing
innovation [the nomination of independent candidates by
initiative groups] in to electoral practice, the current stage
in the election campaign was rather lively on the whole and,
more importantly, it was in line with the legislation.
The final day of October was particularly eagerly awaited,
as the results of the very original innovation in the national
legislation were announced today. The nomination of independent
candidates by citizens' initiative groups - a striking
indicator of the democratic nature of the elections - their
registration, and of course, the impartial analysis of all the
work done in this area were among the main issues on the agenda
.
A special working group was considering documents
submitted to the CEC virtually day and night. Moreover, the
official papers had to undergo an examination by experts.
[passage omitted: a woman member of the CEC, interviewed,
praised the practice of putting up independent candidates]
In all, 193 candidates were nominated by initiative groups
and the Central Electoral Commission has decided to register
133. Some of the independent nominees withdrew their candidacy
voluntarily. Four of them were not registered because of
previous convictions. And most of those refused registration
were refused because of forged signatures.
[passage omitted: the introduction of the innovation had
its shortcomings; a female member of the CEC interviewed said
those candidates who were refused registration had violated the
procedure for collecting signatures by signing for more than
one person or having their supporters sign for all members of
their families; she attributted this to a lack of legal
awareness]

Another two issues on today's agenda were the registration
of Supreme Assembly candidates nominated by the Jokargy Kenges
[parliament] of Karakalpakistan, the Tashkent municipal and
other Regional councils of people's deputies.
[passage omitted: the election campaign is lively in
Regions; the number of candidates nominated by five parties
were made known earlier this week; equal media opportunities
will be given to candidates]

Now it is time for the findings of an opinion poll
conducted by the experts of thePublic Opinion Centre.
[Correspondent, shown speaking to a deputy chairman of the
republican Public Opinion Centre, Marat Khojimuhamedov,
captioned, in an office] What should members of the Supreme
Assembly be like and which features should they have in the
view of Uzbekistan's citizens?

[Khojimuhamedov] The survey we conducted at the beginning
of October produced quite interesting results. In our voters'
opinion, a member of parliament must, above all else, be male.
Asked which sex, male or female, they would vote for, the
majority, that is 84 per cent, said they would cast their vote
for a male candidate, against only 12 per cent who spoke in
favour of a female candidate.

[Correspondent] How old should a member of parliament be?
[Khojimuhamedov] This survey question also brought
interesting findings. It is worth pointing out that in the eyes
of the electoral majority, a member of parliament should be a
middle-aged individual, between the age of 35 and 50.
In answer to a question about which important human
features they thought members of parliament should have, the
majority of the population said the following: 46.8 per cent
think they have to be professional people, highly competent in
the field of Uzbek legislation; 44.7 per cent said it was very
important that deputies be honest; 44.6 per cent said members
of parliament must be wise, clever and have an understanding of
life; 21.9 per cent think they should be active, enthusiastic,
full of initiative and businesslike.

[Correspondent] What are our electorate's hopes for their
participation in the forthcoming elections?
[Khojimuhamedov] Our voters pin high hopes on the future
staff of our supreme legislative body. They place their most
sincere hopes in them. In particular, these are connected with
raising the living standards of families, including their own.
The majority of those polled hope for this from their
participation in the elections.

The next highest percentage of those polled expressed hope
for all-round adherence to those principles of human rights and
freedom which are characteristic of a democratic society. This
testifies to the fact that our citizens adhere to the
principles and values of a democratic society and would like
these principles to be adhered to. A very high percentage of
those polled also hope the new staff of parliament will
continue with the policy of strengthening our state, its
defence capability and might. A total of 12.4 per cent hope the
future parliament will contribute to the further development
and deepening of the economic reforms in the republic in
transition to market relations. A total of 11.4 per cent hope
the future parliament will increase social benefits for the
needy and the socially vulnerable section of our population.

Source: Uzbek Television first channel, Tashkent, in Russian
1430 gmt 31 Oct 99
BBC Mon CAU 311099/** AJC/SA