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Third term for Uzbek President

Islam Karimov

Tashkent: Uzbekistan’s leader Islam Karimov on Sunday tightened his grip on power, when he was re-elected President in an election condemned by opposition activists as illegal and a “farce”.

Mr. Karimov won an overwhelming victory despite being ineligible to stand as a candidate, having already served two consecutive presidential terms.

Election officials claimed that Mr. Karimov’s first term began in 2000 — despite the fact that he has ruled Uzbekistan for 18 years, first as a Communist party boss, and then, after independence, as President. Uzbekistan, the region’s most populous country, is at the hub of an energy-rich region that is the subject of rivalry between Russia, the U.S. and China.

In interviews with the Guardian, opposition activists on Sunday said the poll was a “joke”.

In the run up to the election opposition parties were denied registration; most activists have already fled abroad. “It’s not democratic. Karimov is a neo-communist dictator. He’s a bit like Mugabe,” Atanazar Arif, the leader of the banned opposition Erk Democratic party said. “He has no intention of giving up power,” he added.

Before the elections, the secret police arrested dozens of opposition activists and put them in jail. Others were placed under house arrest. Around 300 dissidents are currently in jail, human rights campaigners say. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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