Former Uzbek Vice President to Found New Political Party

By Liz Fuller, OMRI, 20 January 1995

In the wake of the recent Uzbek parliamentary elections that resulted in an overwhelming victory for the former Communists, Shukrulla Mirsaidov, who resigned as vice president three years ago to protest the policies of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, told Interfax on 18 January that he planned to found a new political party. To be called the Social Democratic Adolat (Justice) Party, he said it would function as a "constructive opposition" to the existing government. Mirsaidov said the party would focus on democracy, freedom of the press, private enterprise, tax reform and greater involvement of religious leaders in public life, and that it already had the necessary number of supporters to gain official registration. --

Liz Fuller, OMRI, Inc.