The role of mass media in the electoral process has been addressed at a panel discussion organized by the Public Fund for the Support and Development of Independent Print Media and Information Agencies of Uzbekistan as well as the Independent Institute to Monitor the Formation of Civil Society. The event comes as part of a joint project entitled “Uplifting the Role of Mass Media in the Further Modernization of the Country and Building a Robust Civil Society”.
The occasion sought to boost the knowledge of journalists working during election campaign, to explain the tasks in the realization of citizen rights to receive maximum complete and comprehensive information on the electoral process, and to inquire into modern technologies, principles and norms of election campaigning.
Participants of the panel discussion pointed out that during its independence years Uzbekistan has garnered a rich experience in the organization and conduct of elections on the principles of openness, publicity and transparency of the entire electoral process. Also it was noted that a major purpose sought from the cooperation of the Central Election Commission with mass media is to create all the necessary conditions for voters for their free participation in elections, for their all-round familiarization with election platforms of political parties and programs of those running for membership of the parliament, and for their conscious decision on the election day.
“Legal guarantees of coverage of the election campaign by mass media are stipulated in the electoral legislation,” Rahimjon Hakimov, head of department at the Institute for Monitoring the Acting Legislation under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, has suggested. “Today, everything necessary has been created for journalists to organize an effective information works to extensively explain the provisions of the electoral legislation among voters, and to propagate the essence and significance of the further democratization of the national electoral system, to bolster the law culture of the population, inform the wider public on the course of preparations for and conduct of elections.”
The event participants exchanged views on the essence and significance of amendments and addenda introduced to the electoral legislation in accordance with the Concept of Intensification of Democratic Reforms and Formation of Civil Society in the Country proposed by the head of our state. The contributors to the roundtable discussion said these novelties are designed to implement – to an even greater extent – the principle of the freedom of choice, to further democratize the electoral system of the country, raise the effectiveness in securing equal opportunities for candidates running for deputyship and political parties during election campaigning, and to cement the principles of openness and transparency of elections of deputies to the lower house of parliament from the Ecology Movement of Uzbekistan.
The panel discussion participants also addressed normative foundations of the evolution of multiparty system in our country, issues related to the development of interparty competition as a factor in the enhancement of electorate’s participation in shaping the representative bodies of government.
