Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 1 May 2023, a press conference of the Mission of Observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States was held in Tashkent following the results of the observation at the referendum on the draft Constitutional Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan". The Head of Mission, CIS Secretary General Sergei Lebedev took part in the press conference.

The Mission and its Headquarters started monitoring the referendum campaign on 12 April 2023.

As part of the Mission, 95 observers were accredited representing Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States and the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States. These are professionally trained people with observation experience. Among them are chairmen and members of the central election commissions of the Commonwealth countries, deputies of national parliaments, representatives of the diplomatic corps. Long-term monitoring was carried out by employees of the CIS Executive Committee.

Commonwealth observers monitored the early voting, which took place from 19 to 26 April 2023, and state that it was held in accordance with the requirements of the Law.

The participation of more than 44,000 observers from political parties and citizens’ self-government bodies in monitoring the voting made it possible, according to observers from the CIS, to exercise broad civil control over the conduct of the referendum.

Summing up, Sergei Lebedev, Head of the CIS Observer Mission, said: “The Commonwealth of Independent States Observer Mission comes to the conclusion that:

The referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the draft Constitutional Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan” was held at a high organizational level, in a free and open atmosphere, in accordance with the current legislation;

The organizers of the referendum provided citizens with the opportunity to freely express their will.”