Tazeen Akhtar from Tashkent Uzbekistan
The Republic of Uzbekistan is all set to be transformed into New Uzbekistan after a nation wide referendum will decide to include the constitutional reforms in the constitution. It is only to reshape the republic according to the new challenges and new opportunities of the present times. The people of Uzbekistan are expected to vehemently participate in the referendum to be held on 30 April 2023.Central Election Commission is humming with international media that is here to cover the most important event of the Central Asian Nation.
Republic of Uzbekistan is mindful for a historical referendum on April 30 to give consent to recently prepared constitutional reforms .The reforms have been evolved in light of the strategy of the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his team. The reforms cover all spheres of life of the people of the Republic, discussed at national level among all segments of society taking on board the Community leaders and representatives from all regions. Transparency is the key element in this referendum that has been fully taken care of through state of the art digital electoral system. This system has been developed by national IT & Telecom companies.
The people of the Republic have been engaged in dialogue with the experts and community leaders to share their feedback for transformation of the constitution. Mass media was actively involved to spread the information up to the remote areas of the country. Thousands of draft books, documents, pamphlets and brochures were published and distributed among the civil society, organizations, newspapers administrations, journalists and other.
The new paragraphs in the constitution were highlighted in the print material sent across the far flung territories to educate the people about what will change after the referendum. TV Channels aired special programs of discussions and interviews on the topic. The experts of the constitution visited UK, Germany, Pakistan and other countries for sharing their experiences in this regard.
The digitization of the electoral system makes the process most transparent in a sense that a single voter list is available to all at every polling station. More than 2500 IT experts and managers will be present at the polling stations to keep the digitized system smooth without any disruption. A mobile app has been introduced that will connect all polling stations with central security system. Special phone number 1200 has been shared for any emergency call free of cost.
Deputy Minister of Ministry of Digital Technology Mr Maxsudov Jamol addressed to the Uzbek and foreign media persons on 29th April to brief them about the steps taken for fool proof polling in the referendam. He was flanked by two representatives of country’s top telecom companies, Mr Shaxzod Magadiyev of Unicom and Mr Mardon Berdiklichev. They shared with media that digital tech is fully being used in referendum. Single electronic voters list has been prepared and shared throughout the country. All relevant data is saved in this list. The system has all information about all citizens about who is in prison and who is serving in military and where. Digital system helps mapping of all polling stations.
The officials said that 17 thousand kilogram material has been dispatched to the polling stations through state delivery system.The citizens serving in other countries can also cast their vote. All the system has been examined for surety of its smooth working.
Another press breifing was held by the heads of different NGOs who were involved in discussions and raising awareness about the refrendum and related matters in their nation wide dialogue with every segment of society. Ther included Mr Kamal ud Din, Mr Babur Bekmurodov and Eldor Tulyakov. They said that new constitution is available since 15 March. Draft of new reforms has been included.
The heads of NGOs shed light on the process of dialogue on referendum. They engaged mass media for the above mentioned purpose. A document was prepared with new provisions. Thousands of books were published and sent to remote territories of country. More and more strict arrangments were made public.
The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan recognized that it was initially envisaged to change 30% of the text of the Basic Law, but more than 220 thousand proposals were received, which is why the amendments now concern 65%. It is no coincidence that Uzbek expert and public circles already call the updated Constitution “people’s one”.
Here is the detail analysis of the proposals for the New Constitution
The referendum in Uzbekistan: what will change in regional policy
