These days the electoral campaign in Uzbekistan has developed into heated debates between the four political parties running for Uzbek parliament and local kengashes – councils of people’s deputies.
The main struggle is going on between the two leading parties: the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal-democratic Party (UzLiDeP) which consider themselves as left and right parties accordingly.
The liberal-democrats criticize their main opponents in giving airy promises to their electorate as creating new jobs for the youth leaving colleges in the rural area and increasing social protection even though about 60 per cent of the national budget is used to cover social expenditures.
And the national democrats also do not like to leave these attacks unanswered. They think it is wrong that the liberal-democrats stand up for the development of the private sector in the sphere of health care which to their mind could improve the quality of the medical service.
The party activist Shavkat Usmonov noted that such an approach to the development of health care was one-sided because it did not take into account interests of wide sections of the population. Instead, he said, the quality of the medical services in the public sector needs to be improved.
All political parties criticize their opponents. For instance, even the Adolat (Justice) social-democratic party once united with UzliDeP and Milliy Tiklanish (National Rebirth) into a democratic block against the PDP parliamentary opposition faction argues against the UzLiDeP’s electoral platform.
The interparty debates are getting more and more heater. It will be clear soon what a party will be preferred by the Uzbek voter.
It needs to be reminded, parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan will be held on December 27 2009.
