Karimov looks set to win Uzbek election

UZBEKISTAN:Uzbekistan votes in a presidential election tomorrow, but few people in the Central Asian state or further afield have any doubt about who will win.

Islam Karimov has run Uzbekistan since 1989, steadily eradicating political opposition and free media and building an increasingly repressive regime accused of using torture, abduction, wrongful imprisonment and even murder to silence its critics.

Running against weak candidates who pose no threat, Mr Karimov is all but certain to claim another seven years in office tomorrow, despite accusations he has already stayed in power longer than the constitution allows.

Mr Karimov says his omnipresent security services are vital to prevent the spread of Islamic extremism in Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan and was used as a launch pad for US operations there after the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

The US military was evicted from its rented air base in Uzbekistan in late 2005, however, after criticising Mr Karimov's reaction to an alleged army massacre of several hundred anti-government protesters in the town of Andizhan in May of that year. Mr Karimov claimed only 187 people had been killed in unrest that he blamed on Islamic radicals.

He has also branded the European Union an enemy of his state, after Brussels slapped a visa ban on senior Uzbek officials and imposed an embargo on the sale of arms which could be used to quash protests. Most of the sanctions have since been lifted, however, angering rights activists.

Despite large gas reserves, one of the biggest cotton industries in the world and a potential tourist trade built on stunning mountains, deserts and historic cities like Samarkand and Bukhara, Uzbekistan's economy is moribund.

Poverty and dissatisfaction with Mr Karimov's rule rarely translate into public protest, however, because of the climate of fear he has created over 18 years.

"He is a typical Central Asian dictator. Day and night he thinks only about how to strengthen his personal rule," said Nigara Khidoyatova, leader of an unregistered opposition party. "For things to change, international organisations and western nations will have to put a lot of pressure [on him]."

Surat Ikramov, one of the few rights activists still at liberty in Uzbekistan, added: "Even the tsars became wiser with age. But he continues repression . . . He is fundamentally evil."