Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev votes in early presidential election in Tashkent, Uzbekistan July 9, 2023. Press service of the President of Uzbekistan//Handout via REUTERS
TASHKENT (Reuters) -Uzbekistan's President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was re-elected with 87.1% of the vote on Sunday, the Central Election Commission said on Monday, citing preliminary results.
Mirziyoyev, who has lead Central Asia's most populous nation since 2016, called a snap election after changing the constitution through a referendum which reset his term count and extended the presidential term to seven years from five.
The 65-year-old president has opened up the country of 35 million people to foreign trade and investment while also easing restrictions on religious and political freedoms, although there still are no strong opposition groups or politicians in Uzbekistan.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Mirziyoyev has sought to maintain ties with both Russia, a former Soviet overlord and traditional partner, and the West; Tashkent has called for peace and refused to recognise the independence of pro-Russian statelets in eastern Ukraine.
(Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Jason Neely and Toby Chopra)
