(EUCAM) President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan has been re-elected after scoring 90 per cent of votes at the Uzbek general elections held on 29 March 2015. According to official estimates, there was a 91 per cent turn-out. It was a carefully orchestrated, ‘no-surprises’ election. The other candidates were unknown to the public and their campaigns tended to praise President Karimov’s achievements. Already in 2007, the constitution was amended to allow the president to run for more than two consecutive terms. The presidential mandate was also reduced from seven to five years, so as to justify Karimov’s right to a new candidacy. Since becoming the country’s first president in 1990 (and in fact, the only one so far), Karimov has mastered the art of creating a Façade democracy.
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