On 13 October, the Uzbek TV First Channel broadcast a programme entitled "Election is the mirror of democracy". Uzbekistan’s presidential election is scheduled for 23 December 2007.

The programme, launched by the Uzbek Central Electoral Commission (CEC), is shown on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Today’s edition, which focuses on the procedure of nominating and registering candidates for the presidency of Uzbekistan, is also being broadcast on the Ozbekiston radio channel, presenters Bahodir Yunusov and Feruza Muhammadjonova in a studio said. Viewers may ask questions by calling the studio or by e-mail saylov@mtrk.uz, the presenters added.

Then the presenters introduced six experts, including a political scientist, representatives from the CEC and a parliamentary committee, and experts from the Institute of Monitoring Existing Legislation under the Uzbek president and Tashkent State Law Institute.

The presenters said that five Uzbek political parties and an initiative group of voters had expressed their intentions to participate in the forthcoming election and moved to nominate their candidates for the presidency. The programme also profiled the five political parties and the initiative group of voters.

The programme went on with the six experts answering the presenters’ questions on the significance of political parties’ move, and on the procedure of nominating and registering presidential candidates. Answering a question on the criteria for running for president, Sayfiddin Jorayev, director of the Uzbek Regional Politics Foundation, said that a presidential hopeful should have "political experience", be able to view the country’s future, and "unite" the people around a single idea.

The experts also answered some questions from viewers who called the studio. In particular, to a question whether it was enough for presidential hopefuls to collect at least five per cent of signatures (over 800,000) from the total number of voters in their support in order to run for president, almost all the experts answered that this would already be "a big test" for the political parties and initiative groups.

The programme also featured an interview with a Japanese lawyer at Tashkent State Law Institute, who said that the political processes were developing based on "democratic principles" in Uzbekistan.

The programme also included a TV link-up with a discussion being held by the Uzbek national association of electronic media at the Bunyodkor Yoshlar TV club. At the discussion, which also focused on the presidential poll, some young people praised their "rights to elect".

In conclusion, the presenters said that there were very many questions from viewers, and promised to answer them in the next programme.

The programme was followed by a one-minute election video, which said that the presidential election would be held on 23 December, and included an excerpt from the law "On election of president of the Republic of Uzbekistan".