Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 8 July 2023, in Tashkent, as part of the ongoing campaign for early elections of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the first meeting of the Consultative Council of the heads of electoral bodies of the CIS member states was held. This was reported by the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

It was attended by Members of the Advisory Council - representatives of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Armenia, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus, the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Central Election Commission of the Republic Uzbekistan, as well as members of the Advisory Council with the right to consultative vote representing the Executive Committee of the CIS and the Secretariat of the IPA CIS Council.

By decision of the Consultative Council, adopted by consensus, representatives of the Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan and the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums in Turkmenistan took part in the meeting as observers. The meeting of the council was also attended by those invited from international associations and organizations professionally involved in scientific and practical issues of national elections and referendums - representatives of the International Institute for Monitoring the Development of Democracy, Parliamentarism and Observance of the Electoral Rights of Citizens of the IPA CIS Member States, the World Association of Electoral Bodies, the Association of Asian electoral bodies.

Opening the meeting, CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev noted that “The initiative to create a Consultative Council of Heads of Electoral Bodies of the CIS Member States was put forward on March 26, 2021 by the Republic of Uzbekistan. In recent years, the Republic of Uzbekistan has made a lot of efforts to improve the electoral process, strengthen cooperation between the CIS member states in the electoral field, exchange experience in ensuring the electoral rights and freedoms of citizens, improve the legal conditions for holding elections and referendums in accordance with the law and international obligations of the member states CIS".

Experts from the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly took part in the work on the draft Agreement. On October 14, 2022, in Astana, the Agreement on the Formation of the Consultative Council of the Heads of Electoral Bodies of the States Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed by the heads of the CIS states and entered into force on January 28, 2023.

Sergei Lebedev noted that today 6 states are parties to the Agreement. “The envisaged areas of activity and functions of the Advisory Council are formulated in such a way as to give its work the most applied, practical character: to promote the development of cooperation between the electoral bodies of the CIS member states in the electoral field, develop and implement recommendations for improving the electoral process in the CIS member states, the legal framework of the Commonwealth in the field of ensuring and protecting the electoral rights and freedoms of citizens, organizing and holding democratic elections.

Chairman of the CEC of the Republic of Uzbekistan Zainiddin Nizamkhojaev, speaking to the audience, said: “The creation of the Consultative Council of the heads of electoral bodies of the CIS member states is an important agreement of the CIS member states in the field of elections. It should be noted that until today, cooperation between the electoral bodies of the CIS member states has been carried out on a bilateral basis. To ensure cooperation between them in order to promote the improvement of the electoral process in the CIS member states, taking into account their experience in the field of elections and referendums, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan put forward an initiative to create an advisory body within the Commonwealth.”

The meeting considered issues related to the organization of the activities of the newly formed Advisory Council of the heads of electoral bodies of the CIS member states.

Chairman of the Council for the period July 2023 - July 2024 became the Chairman of the CEC of Uzbekistan Zainiddin Nizamkhojaev. Co-Chairman of the Council in accordance with clause 4.2. Regulations on the Consultative Council of Heads of Electoral Bodies of the CIS Member States became a member of the Council from the Republic of Belarus Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus Igor Karpenko.

The functions of the working apparatus of the Consultative Council were assigned to the permanent member of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan Gulnoza Rakhimova and the deputy head of the department of the CIS Executive Committee Alexander Zavarzin.

At the next meeting, which will be held in 2024, the parties agreed to develop and adopt the Rules of Procedure for the Council.