Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1751
2007-10-10 12:03:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

SELF-DECLARED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HOLD PRESS

Tags:  PHUM PGOV KDEM UZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5734
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #1751/01 2831203
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 101203Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8579
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3333
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9531
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3949
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3812
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001751 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM UZ
SUBJECT: SELF-DECLARED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HOLD PRESS
CONFERENCE

REF: A. TASHKENT 1732

B. TASHKENT 199

C. TASHKENT 1665

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001751

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM UZ
SUBJECT: SELF-DECLARED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES HOLD PRESS
CONFERENCE

REF: A. TASHKENT 1732

B. TASHKENT 199

C. TASHKENT 1665

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (SBU) Summary: While the five officially registered
political parties nominated candidates, including President
Karimov, last week for the presidential election in December
(ref A),four human rights activists and self-declared
presidential candidates held their own press conference in
Tashkent on October 3. A fifth human rights activist running
for president was reportedly detained by police shortly
before the event. The activists spent the event describing
the hurdles they faced in registering as presidential
candidates, including the necessity of collecting
approximately 600,000 signatures in two months. The press
conference was temporarily interrupted by three women, who
demanded to know how the candidates would promote the
interests of the disabled. All four of the self-declared
presidential candidates have little name-recognition in
Uzbekistan, and are unlikely to meet the onerous requirements
for registering as official candidates. End summary.

THE CANDIDATES
--------------


2. (SBU) On October 3, a press conference was held at the
Tashkent office of the Human Rights Alliance for four human
rights activists who have declared their intention to run in
the December presidential elections: Abdillo Tojiboy, Ahtam
Shaymardanov, Akbar Aliyev and Valeriy Galkin. Tojiboy and
Shaymardanov, who are members of the Human Rights Alliance
and well-known to post, talked the most during the event.
They both prepared handouts with clear, albeit undetailed,
positions on political and economic reforms that were nearly
identical and called for enforcing constitutional freedoms,
developing a program of sustainable development that will
double Uzbekistan's GDP in 5 years and widening ties with
foreign countries.


3. (SBU) Aliyev, a 64-year old academic and poet who is not
affiliated with the Human Rights Alliance, apologized that he
had not yet prepared a platform as he had only decided to run
for president a few weeks ago. The fourth candidate, Valeriy

Galkin, a former engineer and member of the Human Rights
Alliance, hardly said a word during the entire two-hour
event.


4. (SBU) The press conference was attended by diplomats from
the French and Latvian embassies and several journalists from
state-controlled and independent news outlets. Poloff sat
next to a journalist from Jamiyat, a newspaper owned by
several government entities including the Institute for the
Study of Civil Society, the National Association of NGOs and
the Liberal-Democratic Party. There was also a journalist
present from the Jahon News Agency, which is affiliated with
the MFA. Although several articles about the event appeared
in independent websites, none so far has appeared in the
state-controlled media.

FIFTH CANDIDATE DETAINED
--------------


5. (C) The first member of the Human Rights Alliance to
declare his candidacy, Jahongir Shosalimov, was not present
at the news conference. During the event, Shaymardanov
explained that Shosalimov had called and said that he could
not attend the event due to "severe pressure" from the
authorities. On October 5, poloff was told by Tojiboyev that
Shosalimov tried to take an alternative route to the press
conference to shake off surveillance, and made it within 10
meters of the office before he was reportedly detained by
police, who then drove him back home and kept him under house
arrest for rest of the day.


6. (C) It was unclear why Shosalimov -- alone out of the
five candidates -- was reportedly detained by authorities.
His wife was detained by police in January shortly after he
attempted to file suit with the Supreme Court contesting
President Karimov's right to remain in office until the
presidential elections in December (ref A).

UZBEKISTAN'S ELECTION LAWS UNCLEAR
--------------


7. (SBU) Rather than speaking about their future plans for

TASHKENT 00001751 002 OF 003


Uzbekistan, Shaymardanov and Tojiboy spent most of the press
conference explaining the difficulties they faced in
registering as presidential candidates. According to them,
Uzbekistan's election law demands that independent candidates
first form initiative groups of at least 300 persons and
submit their signatures to the Central Elections Committee
(CEC). Once a candidate has initial CEC approval, they must
then collect signatures from 5 percent of eligible voters in
at least eight of Uzbekistan's 14 provinces, two of which
must be Tashkent and the autonomous republic of
Karakalpakstan. Initiative groups could begin collecting
signatures on September 21, and all nominations must be
completed 35 days before the election, in this case, November

18. According to the activists, the second stage of the
nomination process requires collecting between 600,000 and
700,000 signatures in two months, a difficult feat for a
small initiative group.


8. (C) Post's FSN legal advisor examined Uzbekistan's
election law and could find no information on procedures for
allowing initiative groups to nominate candidates. The law
states that candidates from registered political parties must
collect signatures from at least one percent of Uzbekistan's
eligible voters, and not more than eight percent of the total
number of signatures may come from a single province (Note:
Uzbekistan has approximately 16.3 million eligible voters, so
one percent would be approximately 163,000 persons. End
Note.) During a news conference to announce the election on
September 18, the CEC stated that 300,000 signatures would be
required for nominations (ref B). In the case of candidates
for Parliamentarian elections, our FSN legal advisor found
that the law allows initiative groups to nominate individuals
by collecting signatures from at least eight percent of
eligible voters in an electoral district.

STATE-CONTROLLED PRESS ACKNOWLEDGES TOJIBOY'S CANDIDACY
-------------- --------------


9. (U) On October 2, the state-controlled Press.uz.info
website reported that Tojiboy had submitted an application to
the CEC but left before officials could confirm that he had
formed an initiative group or needed assistance in finding a
location to hold a meeting for the initiative group (Note:
According to human rights activists, the law requires that
initiative groups meet in person to nominate a candidate, and
one hurdle that candidates face is affording or even finding
a location large enough to hold 300 persons. End note.)


10. (SBU) During the press conference, Tojiboy denied that
he turned in an application, stating that he was even unsure
of the location of the CEC's office, which is supposedly in
the Senate. On September 29, Tojiboy and Shaymardanov
reportedly arranged a meeting over the phone with the CEC
Press Secretary Nizamiddin Nurmatov, but Nurmatov never
showed up for the meeting. At the press conference, the two
activists said that they had enough supporters to form
initiative groups, but they have been unable to procure the
appropriate forms from the CEC to record signatures. Despite
the alleged inaccuracies of the article, though, Tojiboy told
poloff that he was pleased that his candidacy was at least
acknowledged by the state-controlled media.

BRIEF INTERRUPTION
--------------


11. (SBU) About halfway through the proceedings, the press
conference was interrupted by Chairwoman of the Disabled
Person Society of Uzbekistan Guzal Tashpulatova and two other
women who said that they were disabled. The disturbance
began with the women first yelling from the street and then
banging on the front door of the office, which was then
locked to keep them out. Due to a late entry of a
journalist, the three women were able to enter the press
conference, which immediately turned into a shouting match
between the women and the presidential candidates. The women
accused the four presidential candidates of doing nothing to
promote the interests of the disabled and being
anti-democratic for refusing to allow them to attend the
press conference. One of the women questioned why unknown
individuals like the activists should run for the presidency,
arguing that individuals should first achieve "greatness"
before becoming candidates. After approximately fifteen
minutes, the shouting ceased and the women were allowed to
ask the candidates several questions, and from that point
onwards, the press conference continued with only
intermittent interruptions from the women.


TASHKENT 00001751 003 OF 003



12. (C) After the press conference, the human rights
activists told poloff that Tashpulatova is a frequent
uninvited guest at their events. On February 1, Human Rights
Alliance activists were forced to cancel another press
conference regarding President Karimov's alleged abuse of
presidential term limits after it was disrupted by three
women, including Shosalimov's wife, who was earlier
reportedly threatened by police (ref A).

COMMENT
--------------


13. (C) These self-declared candidates pose little if any
electoral threat to President Karimov, assuming he runs (how
he intends to square his avowed support for the Constitution
with his as yet unaccepted nomination by his political party
remains to be seen). Nevertheless, the difficulties they
face should serve as a stark reminder that this "election,"
whatever else it may be, shows no sign of being about real
democracy.
NORLAND