Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Chance to Vote Boosted Uzbeks' Hopes Despite Limited Choices

Navbahor Imamova

   TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN - The morning of Dec. 22, dawned cold but bright
   in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, as a morning snowfall gave way to
   afternoon light. For the first time since the death in 2016 of the
   country's longtime strongman, Islam Karimov, voters went to the polls
   to choose a parliament and local councils.

   For the first time also, they projected the heightened expectations of
   a much more mobilized and aware citizenry, despite their low opinion of
   the current crop of candidates for the so-far toothless legislature.

   "Members of parliament have no trust or respect [from] the citizens
   because citizens don't feel their impact," said Kamil Fakhrutdinov, a
   blogger in the region of Kashkadarya. His Yakkabog24 focuses on
   once-forbidden socio-political issues.

   Meaningful change

   Three weeks after the election, it is apparent that something
   meaningful has changed in this Central Asian republic, even though the
   electoral process itself was flawed and the country remains an
   authoritarian regime.

   Even this highly circumscribed election gave citizens and the media
   space to ask questions that would have been unthinkable just three
   years ago.

   "We are not the same passive society we were three years ago,"
   Fakhrutdinov told VOA. "So those who want to represent us must know
   that they will have been gifted [with] a trust and charged with working
   for the people."

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