Political theatre doesn't get any more absurd than the 23 December presidential election in Uzbekistan, where the incumbent front-runner is neither in office now nor allowed to run for another term -- though Islam Karimov is supported by all three opposing candidates. There have been a few good online articles about it over the last couple days, though of course, the country's information black hole will prevent Uzbeks from reading them. But never mind: they already know how ridiculous it all is.

Some major international news organisations such as the Associated Press will not be covering the election from the ground, because the regime denied them accreditation. The complete lack of free media inside the country doesn't help much either. Still, there have been a few worthwhile pieces published if you dig around.

Reporting from Tashkent, Tony Halpin has an article in the Times with a title that says it all: "Torture, an iron fist and twisted logic set stage for Islam Karimov's landslide victory".

Inga Sikorskaya at IWPR examines the lack of competition in "Karimov's Rivals Unite to Praise Him". The other candidates -- I'll spare you their names as they don't matter at all and will never be heard of again -- "routinely start by singing the praises of incumbent president Islam Karimov." In another piece, she notes how fake election observers are being deployed to cover the non-election.

Writing for TOL, Lena Smirnova examines the media silence over Karimov's ineligibility: "According to the Uzbek constitution, a president may not serve more than two consecutive terms. Yet Karimov is running for his third. To date, the Uzbek media have done nothing to point out, question, or criticize the legality of Karimov's campaign."

Indeed, according to the law, Karimov's latest seven-year presidential term expired in January 2007, so the country hasn't had a constitutional president for most of this year.

The constitutional argument and media blackout are further elaborated at UzNews: "there is a very interesting phenomenon in the country's media space: Uzbek media outlets have been unofficially ordered not to mention Article 90 of the constitution that bans a third consecutive term for Karimov and the very [phrase] 'third term'.

Sadly, with international media kept away, no inquiring foreign journalist will be able to ask Karimov about this at his victory press conference after Sunday's election. And with torture endemic in Uzbekistan, no local journalist would dare to. As UzNews  writes, since the Andijan massacre in May 2005, when state security forces shot dead hundreds of mostly unarmed demonstrators, "Islam Karimov prefers to express his views in form of monologue using Uzbek state-owned media".

The BBC's Natalia Antelava offers a great overview of the information black hole the country lives in. "Most of the independent and pro-opposition websites are blocked, as are the BBC and Radio Liberty. In hundreds of internet cafes across the country, the government is keeping a close eye on the behaviour of internet users."

So, to review: a fake president is conducting a sham election against sycophantic opponents with fawning observers in order to get re-elected to a post he is constitutionally not allowed to hold. And the local media are not allowed to mention any of this.
 

 

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