Only four candidates out of six were given a “green light” by Central Election Committee to start their pre-election campaign. All leading newspapers and internet sites of the country have published biographies and programs of all four candidates. All of them are in Russian. Once the English versions are available, we will post them in our blog. The biographies of the candidates are really impressive. In normal conditions (with no authoritarianism), each of three candidates would be very strong competitors to Islam Karimov.

Out of four, the most impressing is, of course, Islam Karimov’s biography, because it clearly states that Karimov was already two times elected as a president Uzbekistan. However, it does not at all explain why Karimov is eligible to run for the third term. Here is the part of his biography that I translated from Russian (taken from “Narodnoe Slovoe” newspaper).

Since June, 1989 – he [Islam Karimov] worked as the first secretary of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Uzbekistan.

On March 24, 1990 at session of the Supreme Council of Uzbek SSR Islam Karimov was appointed as a President of Uzbek SSR.

On August 31, 1991 Islam Karimov declared the independence of Uzbekistan.

On December 29, 1991 in elections that were held on an alternative basis, Islam Karimov was elected as a president of Republic of Uzbekistan.

On March 26, 1995 according to results of a national referendum, the presidential term of Islam Karimov was prolonged till 2000.

In 2000 alternative elections were held. According to the results of the election and taking into account the amendments made to the constitution, Islam Karimov has been elected as the President of Republic of Uzbekistan for the period of seven years.

I think this clearly shows that Islam Karimov as a president has already used two terms that is permitted by the constitution. Still no one gave a proper explanation why Karimov is eligible to run for another term. International organizations are keeping silence. The West, especially US, that usually turns the world inside out when it comes to its own profits, did not make any statements concerning elections in Uzbekistan. Double standard politics? I guess it purely is. But what is the profit for the West if Karimovs stays? Access to natural resources? “Islamic Stability”?

What do YOU think?