All 5 Uzbek parties admitted to parliamentary elections

Interfax October 22 All the five political parties officially acting in Uzbekistan have been admitted to taking part in elections of the Legislative Chamber of the Uzbek parliament, Central Elections Commission (CEC) Chairman Buritosh Mustafayev told Interfax on Friday. These parties are the Social-Democratic party Adolat (Justice), the Democratic Party Milli Tiklanish (National Revival), the Popular Democratic party, the Movement of Businessmen - Liberal Democratic party, and National-Democratic party Fidokorlar (the Selfless). "All the five parties, in compliance with the law On Elections, have gathered no less than 50,000 signatures of voters supporting their participation in the elections," Mustafayev said. The campaign to elect the deputies of the lower chamber of the parliament and local councils started on September 20. The people will have to elect 120 deputies representing political parties and also candidates nominated by advocacy groups. The elections are slated for December 26, 2004.