The presidential election nears and it is each Uzbek citizen’s civil duty to participate in it, Uzbek newspaper Na Postu reported on 24 November.

The newspaper correspondent visited the Sirgali district [of Tashkent city] interior directorate’s department for entry, exit and registration of citizens, where we observed a similar situation.

"A total of 65 polling stations have been set up in our district," says the head of the Sirgali district department for entry, exit and registration of citizens, Maj Dilorom Jalimova. "Our district is big with a population of over 150,000 people. Seventy per cent of them are those who are 18 and over, which means the citizens who will participate in the election. We also need to add people living in our district with temporary residence permits, of course, I mean citizens of Uzbekistan. Our current goal is to explain the essence and importance of the forthcoming election."

"An inspection of the observance of the passport and visa regime being conducted in line with the operational and preventive measures codenamed ’Antiterror" and ’Tozalash’ [clean-up] shows that our people do not hurry to change their own passports nor to register their guests and relatives coming from near and far abroad or other regions of the country. Since the beginning of the operations, over 80 offences by Uzbek citizens have been uncovered and disciplinary measures, like warnings and fines, were taken against over 70 of them for breaching residence regulations. We also had to deport some foreign citizens to their home countries. It should be stressed here that people, who invite foreigners to work or as guests, often do not take any measures to register or extend registration. Another problem we are faced with is that some foreign citizens and stateless persons with temporary residence permits [registered] in our district actually do not live here, and moreover nobody knows about their real place of residence. Reasons? As it is said ’read above’."