Labor Inspectorate Warns Against Forced Voting in Open Budget

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The State Labor Inspectorate has issued a warning against forcing employees to collect votes or participate in voting for the Open Budget project, according to the State Labor Inspectorate. Citizens who encounter such cases can report them to the inspectorate via the short helpline number 1176.

The agency emphasized that compelling workers to participate in vote collection or voting violates Uzbekistan's labor legislation. Under Article 51 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility of the Republic of Uzbekistan, administrative forced labor carries a fine ranging from 50 to 100 base calculating values, amounting to between 20.6 million and 41.2 million soums.

In addition to administrative penalties for responsible individuals, establishing facts of coercion may carry consequences for the project itself. Any project found to involve forced employee participation in voting or vote collection may be disqualified from the Participatory Budgeting process.