Local communities elect aksakals and their advisers The campaign on electing chairpersons (aksakals) of citizens\' assemblies and their advisers is underway this May – June in Uzbekistan. A total of about 10,000 chairs and more than 98,000 of their advisers are expected to be elected. Towards robust civil society According to experts, the current election campaign is clearly demonstrating the democratization of the state and the society, and actual implementation of the principle ‘From a strong state to a strong civil society’. As noted by President Islam Karimov, a civil society is primarily a self-government. This is his first and fundamental principle. It is characterized by the developed system of self-government that effectively addresses the pressing issues of population. A local community (mahalla) – a citizens’ assembly has been one of the oldest civil institutions in Uzbekistan. There are currently about 10,000 local communities throughout the country, and their activities involve almost the whole population. Mahalla means something more than just a concept of a management team for its residents. It has been this institute that defined, approved and regulated the rules and principles of human communal conduct, created a system of ideological and philosophical views, formed the moral foundations and traditions, and the public opinion. Mahalla ingeniously interlinked a state with a family, different religions, it established contacts with organizations of culture and education. This national civil institute received the status of the constitutional institute with the adoption of the Basic Law. The increasing role and place of citizens’ self-government in the public life have become the starting point for the development and adoption of relevant laws, including the Law ‘On self-government bodies’, ‘On elections of chairpersons (aksakals) of citizens’ assemblies and their advisers’. The latter document is unique in its way as it was drafted and adopted exclusively in accordance with national traditions and practices of the Uzbek mahalla. Nowadays citizens’ self-government bodies shift to a new level of development defined by the concept put forward by the head of the state last November. It laid down the priorities for the further improvement of the institutional framework of functioning of the citizens’ self-government institute, expansion of its functions and ensuring its close interaction with public authorities and administration. In the years to come mahalla will be legislatively assigned as a center of targeted social assistance to population, development of private entrepreneurship and family business. Its functions will be expanded significantly in a system of public control over the activities of state authorities. High organizational level of election campaigning One of distinguishing features of the present campaign is the ‘Concept of preparing and conduction of elections of chairpersons (aksakals) of citizens\' assemblies and their advisers’ adopted by the Council of the Senate of Oliy Majlis this March. According to experts, this program enabled to organized the campaign on a high level taking into account all the nuances of the electoral process. The concept specifically and gradually itemized all the activities within the preparation and conduction of the election of aksakals and their advisers. This process generally includes four phases: a preparatory period (from April to May), the principal stage, the final stage and the formation of self-government bodies. Open and public According to the legislation, a chairperson (aksakal) of a citizens\' assembly and his advisers are elected for 2,5 years by the citizens\' assembly. The institute of representation is used in the current elections. According to the legislation, representatives of residential areas, streets, mahallas, neighborhoods, districts elected by the decision of the general residents’ assembly are delegated to the citizens’ representatives’ assembly. The electoral quota is apportioned in accordance with the law. This is done solely for the convenience of the citizens themselves: as experts explain, it is impossible to gather a people’s assembly of many thousands in one place and at the appointed time. The suffrage is granted to the citizens of Uzbekistan who permanently reside in its territory and who have reached the age of 18 by the election day, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, language, religion, social background, personal and social status, education, type of employment. The participation in elections is voluntary and free. The date of the election is appointed by the working group basing on the local conditions. In each certain case members of assemblies, or representatives of streets and neighborhoods are notified about the meeting no later than five days before the election. Regarding the nomination, the article 14 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan ‘On elections of a chairperson (aksakal) of a citizens’ assembly and his advisers’ reads as follows: \"The candidates for the post of chairperson (aksakal) of the citizens\' assembly are nominated by the working group taking into account the views of people living in the relevant territory\". Election of a chairperson of a citizens\' assembly and his advisers is carried out by open or secret ballot. The decision on the form of the election is made by open voting of the citizens\' assembly. The candidate to the position of aksakal of a citizens\' assembly or his adviser is considered as elected if he or she received more than a half of votes of people, who attended the citizens’ assembly. Credibility To date, the elections have been already held in many citizens’ assemblies, but the campaign will last till the end of the month. People understand this is an important sociopolitical event. Perhaps, there is no resident in the country, who would not want the local community to be chaired by a person able to take decisions on various social issues. The citizens first of all address the aksakal for support, advice and dispute resolution. His competence covers a wide range of issues, ranging from socio-economic like employment, creation of small businesses, home-based work, to purely family events and upbringing of youth. All people of the assembly consider the authoritative opinion of the aksakal. The current legislation hasn’t specified the age limit for candidates to aksakals. Meanwhile, the notion of the ‘aksakal’ in people’s minds stands for a gray-haired man sophisticated in life experience. The experience has shown that there are previously acting aksakals among the candidates, who had proved their competence in the past period and they can be re-elected by the citizens\' assembly. According to the statistics of last and present elections, even those over 30 years old claim this post as they are ready to take on responsibility towards the society. There are women among the candidates too. Their active participation in the activities of the local self-government body is an indicator of their increased role and status in the society. In the ongoing elections, women not only claim to be the chairpersons and their advisers, but also actively participate in the voting. The major part of voters, the youths, are actively involved in this process. The Youths’ Public Movement Kamolot did a good job in terms of enhancing the participation of young people. Life after elections Mahalla today is an important factor in the timely and successful tackling the pressing issues of citizens and protecting their interests. This institute plays an important role in ensuring the backward and forward interrelations of population with public authorities, broad informing of the public about the local ongoing activities on implementation of socioeconomic development in the regions. Year by year mahalla increasingly introduces a function of social control. The citizens’ self-government bodies have formed the conciliatory commissions, community groups Mahalla Posboni, they have introduced the post of consultant on religious enlightenment, spiritual and moral education, as well as determined the procedure of allocation of funds to mahalla for ensuring the completeness of the payments for housing and communal services by the population. Mahalla is also the initiator of the local development of social infrastructure, it promotes the employment of citizens residing on the territory, including the organization of home-based work. It is increasingly turning into a center of family and private businesses. All these and other measures have ensured the further enhancement of the role and importance of mahalla in society, building of a democratic state ruled by the law and an open civil society.

UT News Agency