MALAYSIANS TO OBSERVE UZBEKISTAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), Dec 14 (Bernama) -- A four-member Malaysian observer team led by Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar has been selected to observe Uzbekistan's parliamentary elections on Dec 27.

The four Malaysians will be part of an International Observers Group that
will be deployed throughout the republic to monitor the conduct and the outcome
of the election to ascertain whether it is free or fair.

The other three members of the team are Asean Law Association of Malaysia
honorary secretary S.Radhakrishnan, Perdasama president Moehamad Izat Emir
and senior lawyer Kamarudin Ahmad.

The Malaysians have been invited by the Chairman of the Central Election
Commission of Uzbekistan, M. Abdusalomov, as international observers during
polling in Uzbekistan, the most populous republic in central Asia.

"About 200 international observers from more than 40 countries, including
the European Union, are also expected to attend and observe Uzbekistan's
parliamentary election. The purpose of inviting the international obersvers to
the election was to ensure transparency," Radhakrishnan told Bernama Sunday.



He said the Malaysian delegation was expected to leave for Tashkent,
Uzbekistan on Dec 22.

Radhakrishnan has the distinction of being the sole delegate from
Malaysia
who was invited as an international expert to participate in the International
Conference on Uzbekistan Elections held in July 2009 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan, a country measuring 447,400 sq km, where Muslims make up about
85 per cent of its population, shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west,
Kyrgyzstan to the north, Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and
Turkmenistan to the south.

The republic obtained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and has
a population of 27 million.

-- BERNAMA