Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A regular meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was held in Vienna, during which a six-month report was heard by the Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), Georgy Tsereteli, on the activities of his body.

In the speech Mr. Tsereteli noted about his visit to Uzbekistan and participation in the parliamentary elections as the head of the short-term observer mission from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. In particular, it was noted that the PA first launched a mission to monitor the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Uzbekistan on 22 December 2019.

“Elections in Uzbekistan have shown how the democratization process is noticeably strengthening in Central Asia. Despite some gaps that we indicated in our preliminary findings and conclusions, I want to note that these elections were a step forward in the democratic development of Uzbekistan, ”he emphasized.

Mr. Tsereteli also expressed gratitude to Uzbekistan for fruitful cooperation and the very open negotiations that he held with the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M. Mirziyoyev and other officials.

In turn, during the meeting, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Austria, the Permanent Representative of the Republic to the OSCE and other international organizations in Vienna, Sherzod Asadov informed the members of the Permanent Council about the results of the parliamentary elections.

He emphasized that for the first time an unprecedented number of international and foreign observers, representatives of foreign media were invited to the elections in the Republic of Uzbekistan. In total, more than 800 observers from 50 foreign countries and 10 international organizations, as well as over 130 representatives of foreign media carried out monitoring and coverage of the elections. The election was directly monitored by the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which welcomed the election.

It was noted that international observers emphasized that the adopted new Electoral Code fully complies with generally accepted norms of international law, the requirements of democratic electoral standards, and the introduction of an automated election management system, a Unified Electronic Voter List, and conducting training seminars for members of election commissions in 8 stages to increase knowledge in the field of electoral law and practical skills have yielded positive results, as well as demonstrated whether a high level of political and legal culture of citizens and their active participation in the vote.