Written by Gulchekhra Malikova
The formation of a free society and state is impossible without the formation of a stable electoral legal culture. It is a generally accepted fact that elections are the basis of people’s power. It is generally accepted that the presence of free elections in the country is one of the principles of the democratic system of government and the republican form of government.
According to Article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention on Standards for Democratic Elections and Electoral Rights and Freedoms in the CIS Member States: “Real elections ensure the determination and direct implementation of the freely expressed will of the people.”
Over the past few years, significant changes have occurred in the political system of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which have affected all spheres of social and political life. One of these changes is the innovation of electoral legislation. This means changing the electoral system in the Republic of Uzbekistan from a majority system to a relative majority system (sometimes called mixed) in the elections to the Legislative Council of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The mixed electoral system, in which two classical electoral formulas (majoritarian and proportional) are connected, is also used in a number of other countries on different continents, of the European Union (Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Italy, etc.). ) To the Far Eastern countries (Japan and others)
What is the goal of moving to a relative majority system in elections?
First, this system facilitates a more complete counting of votes and reflects the real political situation in the country more accurately.
Secondly, the representation of Uzbekistan’s regions in the lower house of parliament will become more balanced.
Third, a change in the form of relationships between parties and candidates, as parties will have to focus on searching for candidates who are truly popular, credible, and able to actively work with voters.
Fourth, a platform is created for the emergence of new public politicians.
Mixed electoral systems are divided into three types:
1) With the dominance of proportional representation (relative majority);
2) with the dominance of the majority system (relative majority);
3) Balanced systems, where proportional and majority systems are used equally.
In the Republic of Uzbekistan, legislation enshrines the transition to a balanced system. Thus, the second part of Article 67 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan stipulates that seventy-five deputies to the Legislative Council shall be elected in a single-term electoral district, and seventy-five deputies – on the basis of a party list in proportion to the number of members of the Legislative Council. The number of votes cast for political parties in one electoral district.
Normally, under these systems, on election day, the voter is given a separate ballot in which he votes specifically for the candidate, and a separate ballot in which he votes for the party. Although each country has its own practices. For example, in Germany, the district election commission issues a single ballot, in which candidates for a single-state electoral district are placed on the one hand, and land lists are drawn up on the other, and in Russia voters are given two ballot papers at polling stations.
Part 3 of Article 31 of the Election Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan states that “the ballot paper shall contain the surname, first name and patronymic of the candidate in alphabetical order, indicating the year of birth and the political party that nominated him/her.” As a candidate,” which is what distinguishes Legislative Council elections in single-state electoral districts.
Chapter Four of Chapter 31 of the Elections Law stipulates that “the ballot paper for electing representatives of the Legislative Council in one electoral district must include the names and symbols of the political parties participating in it successively in accordance with the procedures by which it is carried out.” They were allowed to participate in the elections.”
This means that two types of ballot papers will be produced in the Legislative Council elections. This criterion constitutes a serious test for political parties and implies painstaking work to develop their political program in order to eliminate dilution and determine clarity of party lines.
It should be noted that Article 401 The Electoral Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan stipulates the rule for registration and publication of party lists by the Central Election Commission, as well as single-term candidates. The idea of registering and publishing lists of candidates competing in one electoral district is correct. The voter forms his own idea of the party, based on the candidates nominated by the parties on their party lists. At the same time, it is necessary to solve the most important issue – which is the methodology for distributing the states within the list.
The changes related to the issue of disclosing election results are no less interesting. Vice presidential candidates from a single-term electoral district are determined by a winner-take-all system. Thus, in accordance with Part V of Article 96 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the candidate who received the largest number of votes becomes the winner.
This system is very effective, except in cases where two or more candidates receive the same number of votes. The winner-take-all system is used as the only system for elections to either house of parliament (or both houses) in 43 countries, including the United States and a number of member states of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Regarding political parties elected in a single electoral district, Article 961 The electoral law of the Republic of Uzbekistan sets a threshold of seven percent. Therefore, a political party only obtains a parliamentary mandate if it obtains seven percent of the votes of voters who participated in voting in one electoral district.
Why did the legislator set this threshold? What is the reason for its existence? In the legal literature containing different opinions on this issue, the following reasons are indicated for its introduction:
1) The threshold was introduced to reduce participation in the distribution of seats in Parliament for parties that received voter support at the level of “noise”, error or accident that occurred at polling stations and which constituted about 2 percent of the total number of citizens’ votes. This value is considered acceptable due to the instability of the voter group, the high incidence of accidents, and a number of other factors that affect the elections
2) The threshold is used to avoid excessive factional fragmentation within Parliament, which may lead to its decentralization and paralysis of its work.
3) The threshold was introduced to exclude negative activity and the influence of small parties on important decision-making, including the formation of the government. This effect lies in the fact that small parties form factions that have great weight in making the final decision, which in fact puts them in a dominant position over the large parties. Ultimately, this led to the political crisis in Israel in 2019-2022, when five early Knesset elections were held for a period of 3.5 years.
4) The threshold was also introduced in order to provide the opportunity for the parties involved in the distribution of mandates to have effective parts for the most fruitful implementation of their functions.
What is this threshold in foreign countries? In the Netherlands, 0.67%, Russia 5%, Kazakhstan 7%, Egypt and Liechtenstein 8%, and Turkey 10%. Besides, there are a number of countries where there is no threshold at all: we see this in Portugal, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Sweden and some others.
conclusion
Through its own mechanisms, social and political life has influenced the structure of inter-party competition, and inter-party competition in turn is a factor in reforming the intra-party system. All this together constitutes a determining factor for changes in the electoral system. We have something to strive for. We are confident that the upcoming elections of representative bodies of state power in the Republic of Uzbekistan will entrust us with the task of developing and supplementing the field of electoral law with new ideas stimulated by practice and experts.
The author is a senior researcher at the Institute of Legislation and Legal Policy of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.