Uzbekistan switches to mixed electoral system

TASHKENT. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed into law a bill giving the go-ahead to the country's transition from its majority voting system to a mixed majority and proportional electoral system.

The legislation, which was adopted by the Legislative Chamber (the lower house) of the Uzbek parliament on October 31 and approved by the Senate on November 24, was published in the country's parliamentary media outlets on Tuesday, thus entering into force.

Under the law, elections to the Legislative Chamber will be held using a mixed (mixed-member proportional) electoral system. There will be single-seat districts and a unified electoral district. Seventy-five members of the Legislative Chamber will be elected from single-seat districts using the majority voting system, while the other 75 will be elected from the unified electoral district using the proportional electoral system based on the ballots casts for political parties (party lists).

"The adoption of this constitutional law will help further expand political parties' role in the parliament's and local legislature activities and create the legal framework for introducing the majority and proportional electoral system for the Legislative Chamber," a Senate spokesperson told Interfax.

Until recently, Uzbekistan used the majority voting system, under which the candidates with a plurality of votes in their electoral district are declared the winner, with all candidates representing parties active in the country.

Uzbekistan's Legislative Chamber consists of 150 members. Currently, there are five political parties in the country