Research center for the study of public opinion “Ijtimoiy Fikr“, an Uzbek governmental agency in its core, has once again conducted an opinion poll(UZB), and has found out that the majority of the population of Uzbekistan support their president Islam Karimov. Ladies and gentlemen, you may accept it as an Uzbek government response to the report of International Crisis Group published recently.

So, what are the findings of this questionnaire.

To the question “Who or what is the guarantor of stability, strengthening of independence and successful solution of problems in our country?” - 98,5% of respondents gave the answer, “The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov”. I have no doubts that the result is correct, though, I am extremely curious to know, what the other possible variants of answers might have been like. I want to know, if workers of the center dared to put other candidates and names in the questionnaire. I don’t know who could those be, but were these names like Mirziyayev, Tamerlane or Nasreddin Hodja? Or what? Like strong control, exorcism, pure luck? No sarcasm, I really want to know!

The other question was - “Are you certain(convinced) that our country will successfully solve its problems and will be highly modernized and prosperous?” - 91,4% of respondents answered “Yes”. This result was interpreted as a sign of a strong belief and hope for the future. I bet it was so! I think, everyone hopes that tomorrow will be much better than today. At least, in Uzbekistan.

“Did the country strengthen itself economically, financially, politically and culturally in the last years?” - 88,4% said “Yes”. Strange, but here the results and the rate did not exceed the over 90% level (com. somebody gonna get really hard).

What was the most astonishing for me that respondents also showed awareness of legal-normative acts and precisely named the presidential resolutions and decrees that are making their lives much easier, raising the employment rates in the country, as well as improving their social situation. They namely indicated the law on working at home and on the support of young families. Originally, the names of the laws include min.16 words each. As if, the questionnaire were filled in by the statesmen and government officials, who adopted and worked on those laws, and not by peasants or else. Or simply there weren’t many alternatives.

Shockingly (some might say not surprisingly), respectful Uzbek sociologists did not include the presidential decree on the raising of the monthly salaries and wages for public workers in their questionnaire. I guess, everyone understands that this measure was not about improving social welfare, but more about balancing the rising inflation.

It is a pity actually, had the questionnaire been a wee better worked out, we would perhaps be able to know what do Uzbeks think of or pray for in these days.