Dear participants of the briefing!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Today - Sunday, April 30 - at 08:00 the referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the reform of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan has begun. 

According to the decisions of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the date of the referendum is April 30, 2023, and the ballot paper contains only one question: “Do you accept the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan”?

Today at 8:00 a.m. 10,703 referendum precincts in our country opened their doors to citizens participating in the referendum.

In addition, 55 referendum precincts established in diplomatic missions and other representative offices of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 39 countries have started their work, including referendum precincts established in eastern countries.

Constant communication has been established between the Central Election Commission and all districts and referendum precincts.

Referendum voting began for the first time in the referendum precincts created by the representative missions of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

19 million 722 thousand 809 citizens eligible to vote have been included in the Single Electronic List of Voters.

A total of 307,895 citizens have been registered in the lists of voter of the 55 referendum precincts established abroad.

In this year's referendum, which was held from April 19 to 26, Uzbek citizens exercised their right to vote early for the first time.

No fewer than 611,320 citizens cast their ballots early. In previous referendums, this opportunity was not provided for in the legislation.

Dear participants of the briefing!

In this year's referendum it was possible to observe the voting process in real time (online) through the use of video cameras installed in at least two referendum precincts located in all districts and cities of Uzbekistan.

The voting process can be continuously monitored on screens in the press centre of the Central Election Commission, on the official website saylov.uz, as well as through O'zbekistan 24 and other TV channels of the National TV and Radio Company of Uzbekistan.

On the recommendation of the 14th District Referendum Commission of the city of Tashkent, the system of biometric identification of citizens entitled to vote was introduced as a pilot test in fifty referendum precincts located in the districts of our capital.

According to the information received so far, the referendum is held in full compliance with our national referendum legislation in accordance with international norms and standards, as well as democratic principles such as openness, transparency and fairness.

According to the Law “On Referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan”, participation of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan in a referendum is voluntary and free. No one has the right to influence Uzbek citizens to participate or not to participate in a referendum or to freely express their will.

Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan participate in the referendum on an equal footing. Each citizen has one vote. It is not allowed to control the will of citizens.

If some citizens are unable to come to the polling station due to health or other reasons, the Precinct Referendum Commission may, upon their request, organize voting at their place of residence with the help of mobile ballot boxes.

A total of 383 international observers, including 184 from 14 reputable international organizations, from 45 countries are present at the referendum.

There are 199 international observers directly observing the process.

In addition, a total of more than 44,000 local observers from political parties and citizens'self-governing bodies participate in direct observation.

Direct observation and coverage of the referendum is conducted by 964 representatives of accredited media, including 192 representatives of 127 foreign media.

To date, the Central Election Commission has not received any information about violations of the referendum legislation during the vote.

If citizens, observers or representatives of the mass media find violations of the referendum legislation, they can turn to a court, the prosecutor's office or the referendum commissions.

For this purpose, the telephone numbers of administrative courts and prosecutors' offices are provided in all referendum districts.

Preliminary information on the number of people who participated in the referendum is expected to be announced on the board in the conference room of the press center currently as of 11:00.

Thank you for your attention!