Comments on: Islam Karimov Commits Election Fraud http://registan.net/index.php/2008/01/03/islam-karimov-commits-election-fraud/ Central Asia News -- All Central Asia, All The Time Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:53:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: jonathan p http://registan.net/index.php/2008/01/03/islam-karimov-commits-election-fraud/comment-page-1/#comment-376104 jonathan p Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:39:07 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/01/03/islam-karimov-commits-election-fraud/#comment-376104 Concerning the contest: What a rip-off. ;) Concerning the election: What a rip-off. But did anyone expect anything different? This just reinforces the idea that Karimov's primary interest is bilking Uzbekistan for the rest of his life. I fear the day he dies will be the beginning of even more misery for the Uzbek people. Concerning the contest: What a rip-off. ;)

Concerning the election: What a rip-off. But did anyone expect anything different? This just reinforces the idea that Karimov’s primary interest is bilking Uzbekistan for the rest of his life. I fear the day he dies will be the beginning of even more misery for the Uzbek people.

]]> By: brian http://registan.net/index.php/2008/01/03/islam-karimov-commits-election-fraud/comment-page-1/#comment-376103 brian Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:30:37 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/01/03/islam-karimov-commits-election-fraud/#comment-376103 You know, the sad thing is that a free and fair and functional election really wasn't possible anyway. Civil society is oppressed so much that if all of a sudden free elections were scheduled in Uzbekistan no one would know who to vote for... and they'd probably just end up voting along regional/clanish lines. In my own upbringing and education I was asked thousands of times to discuss: what is your opinion on this subject and why? But generations of police-state dictatorship means that Uzbeks are rarely asked to openly discuss their own opinion about anything substantive. The Uzbek people are smart and hard working but developing the nuances of understanding not only what one wants from their government, but how and why, takes years (especially when they're older and have already left the education system). Honestly, I think before any free and fair election would be held in Uzbekistan there must be a general opening up of society. A transition from an Uzbekistan-type dictatorship to a Pakistan-type dictatorship (a dictatorship with generally free speech and media) to a non-dictatorship is probably the way to go. The crux is, that's probably not going to happen any time soon with Issy-K in power. You know, the sad thing is that a free and fair and functional election really wasn’t possible anyway. Civil society is oppressed so much that if all of a sudden free elections were scheduled in Uzbekistan no one would know who to vote for… and they’d probably just end up voting along regional/clanish lines.

In my own upbringing and education I was asked thousands of times to discuss: what is your opinion on this subject and why? But generations of police-state dictatorship means that Uzbeks are rarely asked to openly discuss their own opinion about anything substantive. The Uzbek people are smart and hard working but developing the nuances of understanding not only what one wants from their government, but how and why, takes years (especially when they’re older and have already left the education system).

Honestly, I think before any free and fair election would be held in Uzbekistan there must be a general opening up of society. A transition from an Uzbekistan-type dictatorship to a Pakistan-type dictatorship (a dictatorship with generally free speech and media) to a non-dictatorship is probably the way to go. The crux is, that’s probably not going to happen any time soon with Issy-K in power.

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