Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sailed into a third term – despite Uzbekistan’s long-standing but never-heeded two term limit – by capturing 87 percent of the vote on July 9. RFE/RL described the candidates not named Mirziyoyev succinctly as “a former education minister, a former high-ranking forestry official, and a career judge fresh from a term in the slavishly loyal Senate.” …
When Kazakhstan’s ruling party, Nur Otan, obtained 71 percent of the vote in the January 10 parliamentary elections, nobody seemed surprised. While the 7 percent voting threshold seemed unsurmountable in 2007, when Nur Otan won all 98 seats, in 2012 two historically loyal parties entered the Majilis: the Democratic Party Ak Zhol and the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan. The …
