Turnout makes 80% in runoff at Uzbekistan parliament elections

TASHKENT, January 11 (Itar-Tass) -- About 80% of voters participated
in the repeat voting at the elections in the lower house of Uzbekistan's
parliament on Sunday. "The Central Election Commission received the
preliminary information on the repeat voting. Some 3,960,876 people, who
made 79.7% of citizens entitled to vote, participated in the repeat voting
at 08.00 p.m. local time (06.00 p.m. Moscow time) from 4,969,547 people
entitled to vote in 39 electoral districts," the Uzbek Central Election
Commission (CEC) said.
The repeat voting "was open and public with all norms of the national
election legislation observed under the generally recognized international
norms and standards," the country's CEC said. Over 4.2 thousand observers
from the political parties were monitoring the elections. The Uzbek CEC
has not received any reports about serious violations from the electoral
districts.
The CEC is continuing the vote count.
The repeat voting was held, as in the first round of the elections on
December 27, 2009, no candidates could poll more than 50% of votes
required for the victory in 39 out of 135 electoral districts.
Under the Uzbek legislation, the repeat voting was held for two
candidates to deputies that got the largest number of votes in the first
round. The candidate who gets a simple majority of votes cast by the
electorate who came to the polls is considered elected to the parliament.
-0-baz