2015 Uzbek presidential election

A constitutional law on presidential elections was approved by the Senate on 23 March 2012,[4] which required presidential elections to be held 90 days after parliamentary elections.[5] Elections to the Legislative Chamber were held over two-rounds, the first on 23 December 2014 and the second on 4 January 2015.

The law change effectively shortened the term of incumbent President Islam Karimov by several months, as under the previous law, the elections would have been held on 27 December 2015.[4] Though the constitution limits presidents to two terms in office, the Central Election Commission allowed Karimov to run again, arguing that Karimov had only served one term since the constitution was adopted in 2002, and that his previous two terms before that should not count.[6]

The candidates were:

• Islam Karimov of the Liberal Democratic Party, president since 1990[7]
• Khatamjan Ketmanov of the People's Democratic Party[7]
• Nariman Umarov of the Justice Social Democratic Party[8]
• Akmal Saidov of the National Revival Democratic Party[8]

All candidates were loyal to Karimov.[9]

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe stated that the Uzbek poll lacked genuine opposition.[3] Steve Swerdlow at Human Rights Watch called the vote a "sham election".[10] Observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation called the election "open, free, and democratic," and said it had proceeded "openly and democratically," respectively.[11]