REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN Official name: Uzbekistan Respublikasi (Republic of Uzbekistan) Location: Central Asia International organisations: The Commonwealth of Independent States, The Non-Aligned Movement, The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, The United Nations Borders: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan Coastline: None

Land area: 447,400 Km2
Population: 25,500,000
Ethnicity: Most citizens of Uzbekistan are either Uzbeks (80%), or related Turkic peoples: Tajik 5%, Kazakh 3%, Karakalpak 2.5%. There is a sizable (5.5%) Russian minority.
Languages: Uzbek is the official language, but Russian is still widely used in government and communications. Uzbek is the first language of 74.3% of the population, while 14.2% speak Russian and 4.4% speak Tajik.
Religion: Sunni Moslem 88%, Orthodox Christian 9%, other 3%. During the Soviet era religion was discouraged and many Uzbeks are secularised.
Form of government: Formally, a presidential democratic republic. In practice, an increasingly authoritarian regime. Uzbekistan is divided into 12 provinces and the City of Tashkent. The Karakalpak Republic is theoretically autonomous.
Capital: Tashkent
Constitution: The Constitution of Uzbekistan was adopted on 8 December 1992
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a seven-year term.
Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
Legislature: Uzbekistan has a unicameral legislature. The National Assembly (Oli Majlis) has 250 members, elected for five-year terms. Of these 83 members are directly elected and 167 are chosen by local councils.
Electoral authority: Elections are conducted by the government.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 6

Political history

The Uzbeks are a mix of Turkic and Mongol peoples, and from the 17th century there were Uzbek emirates at Khiva, Bukhara and Kolkand. The Russian Empire penetrated the area in the mid 19th century and by 1873 the whole area was under Russian rule. Following the collapse of the Russian state in 1917 the Uzbeks attempted to regain their independence, but the Russian Communists captured the area in 1920 and formed the Bukharan Soviet Republic. In 1924 the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic became part of the Soviet Union.

From the 1970s Uzbekistan was ruled by an increasingly corrupt Soviet oligarchy, and when the Soviet Union disintegrated this group retained power, adopting a facade of western-style democratic institutions. Islam Karimov, the last ruler of Soviet Uzbekistan, made himself President in 1991 and has held power ever since.

Although several political parties exist in Uzbekistan, there is no real political competition. The legislature is only partly directly elected, and President Karimov's Self-Sacrifice Party, allied with the Democratic People's Party (the renamed Communists) and the Progress the Fatherland parties, hold most of the seats. The most important opposition force, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, has been banned.

Human Rights Watch comments:
"Citizens of Uzbekistan were once again denied their right to endeavor to participate in the political system and to change their government peacefully. Parliamentary elections held in December 1999 and presidential elections in January 2000 were neither free nor fair. No genuine opposition political parties were registered, there was no opportunity to air views via the mass media, and no possibility to exercise freedom of assembly or association.

"An Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) mission sent to Uzbekistan to assess the pre-election environment in the run up to the parliamentary race declared that conditions "fell short of the OSCE commitments for democratic elections," citing inadequate laws and regulations, direct government interference in the election process, and the absence of fundamental freedoms as among the obstacles. Agence France-Presse reported that President Karimov said after the vote, "The OSCE focuses only on establishment of democracy, the protection of human rights and the freedom of the press. I am now questioning these values."

"In January 2000, Soviet-style presidential elections made a mockery of the democratic system. President Karimov claimed support from 91.9 percent of the electorate, which included a vote from his nominal opponent in the race. The US government declared the election "neither free nor fair" and said it "offered Uzbekistan's voters no true choice." The OSCE abstained from sending observers because of the lack of competition."