Erk/Liberty Democratic Party - History and Elections

History and Elections

The ERK party has participated in the first general elections of the independent Uzbekistan for the post of presidency of Uzbekistan with its candidate on 29 December 1991. The leader of the party Muhammad Salih was the only opponent of Islam Karimov in these elections. At that time Muhammad Salih was the chairman of the Union of Writers of Uzbekistan, whereas Islam Karimov was the president of the country, elected on the 24th of March 1991 by the Supreme Council of Uzbekistan. According to official election results 12,7% voted for Muhammad Salih. However, according to the results broadcast over the radio of Uzbekistan, 33% voted for him; and more than 50% - according to the calculations of the independent observers from the information of the trusted representatives of the party's candidate; trusted representatives of the candidate of the ERK party reported that protocols on the results of the elections were changed without the consent of the voters in some constituencies (districts) and delivered to the Central Elections Committee without voters' signatures; according to the information of the staff of the main publishing center to the office of the ERK party where the voting bulletins were printed and issued to the voting stations that the total number of voting bulletins exceeded the number of the voters by 50%.

The ERK party was not allowed to contest the December 2007 presidential elections. In an interview for the Guardian newspaper, Atanazar Arif of ERK said: "It's not democratic. Karimov is a neo-communist dictator. He's a bit like Mugabe...He has no intention of giving up power."