By Rhod Mackenzie
Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the occasion of his re-election as head of state.
This was reported by the press service of the Kremlin.
Mirziyoyev won the early presidential elections with 87.5% of the vote, Interfax reports. “According to preliminary data, 13,625,055 people voted for Mirziyoyev, or 87.5% of the voters who took part in the voting,” the agency quotes the head of the Central Election Commission of the republic, Zainiddin Nizamkhodzhaev.
In April, a referendum was held in Uzbekistan on changes to the constitution, which would extend the presidential term from five to seven years. Innovations were supported by 90.2% of voters. In early May, Mirziyoyev signed a decree on holding early presidential elections.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev became the President of Uzbekistan following the results of early elections in December 2016. Before that, the head of state was Islam Karimov, who had held the presidency since 1989. In October 2021, Mirziyoyev won the elections with a score of 80.12% of the vote.
This article originally appeared in Russian at expert.ru