Incumbent Uzbek president wins new term in snap election with token opposition

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Uzbekistan’s incumbent president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has overwhelmingly won a new seven-year term in a snap election in which he faced three weak opponents, preliminary results showed Monday. The national elections commission says Mirziyoyev received more than 87% of the vote and each of the challengers about 4%. Sunday’s vote followed a constitutional referendum that extended presidential terms from five to seven years. In 2021, Mirziyoyev was elected to his second five-year term, the limit allowed by the constitution at the time. A set of constitutional amendments approved in April’s plebiscite allowed him to begin the count of terms anew and run for two more, raising the possibility that he could stay in office until 2037.