Stock Photo - UZBEKISTAN, TASHKENT - JULY 9, 2023: A man cooks shashlik skewered meat during the 2023 early presidential election. The approved amendments to the Constitution coming into force, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a law on early elections, and an early presidential election was scheduled on July 9. Apart from the incumbent president representing the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, the candidates include Ulugbek Inoyatov and Abdushukur Hamzayev put forward by the People’s Democratic Party and Ecological Party respectively, and Robaxon Mahmudova, First Deputy Chairperson of the Uzbek Supreme Court, from Adolat (Justice Social Democratic Party). Vladimir Smirnov/TASS.