As previously reported, Uzbekistan will hold elections for the parliament and local Councils this year.

These days, active preparations are underway for this important political event. It is worth noting that for the first time in the country’s history, deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis are elected under a mixed electoral system – a majoritarian and proportional one. That is, 50 percent of lower house deputies are elected under the majoritarian system – by voting for one candidate from each district and 50 percent under the proportional system, based on votes cast for political parties (on party lists). Each party can nominate from 75 to 100 candidates on its list.

Consequently, under the proportional system, political parties are first in voters’ choice. This will determine the party’s authority among voters and the relevance of its program goals.

So, how many supporters and members do political parties of Uzbekistan have today? The program, goals, and ideas of which party the country’s citizens support the most, and who do they trust the most? Which party has the most women and youth in its ranks?

As of July 15 this year, the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, which is the same age as our independence, has 704,183 members. They are members of 10,695 primary party organizations. At the same time, 281,167 party members are young people (40 percent), and 351,209 are women (50 percent).

The total number of members of the Social Democratic Party of Uzbekistan “Adolat”, founded in 1995, is 1,104,283 people. Ofthese, 595,208 people (54 percent) are women, 430,689 (39 percent) are youth.

The “Milliy Tiklanish” Democratic Party, established in 2008 based on the two parties, “Milliy Tiklanish” and “Fidokorlar”, has over 762 thousand members, of which 265 thousand are women (39 percent) and 341 thousand are young people (51 percent).

The total number of members of the Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businesspeople – the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, established in 2003, is 1,620,238 people. Of these, 738,591 are women (46 percent), and 782,877 are young people under 34 (48.8 percent).

The youngest political party – the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, founded in 2018, was able to unite more than 638 thousand compatriots in its ranks in a short period. Of these, 320,730 people (50.3 percent) are women, 266,648 (41.8 percent) are young.

Mukhtarama Komilova, UzA