Uzbekistan’s acting president wins election

Uzbekistan’s acting president has overwhelmingly won a tightly controlled presidential election in the Central Asian country’s first vote since the death of authoritarian leader Islam Karimov, election officials said Monday.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev garnered 88.61 per cent of the vote, Central Election Commission head Murza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov said during a briefing in Tashkent. Turnout was 87.83 per cent, according to officials.

None of the other three presidential contenders managed to get more than 4 per cent of the ballots cast.

But the result will consolidate Mirziyoyev’s position following his appointment as acting president just six days after Karimov’s death was announced at the beginning of September.