The People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan continues active work on preparation of updated party program documents. This activity has begun in 2017 – 2018. At this stage, a program document “The main priorities of political ideology and program goals of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan” was prepared and approved at the plenary session of the Central Council. In 2018 – 2019 the main provisions of this document were widely discussed at all levels of the party.

Participants in the discussion made a large number of proposals, taking into account which the expert groups have so far prepared working drafts of the new edition of the Program of the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan and the Party’s Pre-Election Program for the upcoming 2019 elections to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Jokargy Kenes of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional, district and city Kengashes of people’s deputies.

Currently, party organizations have launched a discussion of prepared projects. Following the discussion, program documents will be submitted for approval by the party congress at the same time as resolving other issues of the party’s participation in the upcoming elections.

The discussion was started at the regular video dialogue organized by the Central Council of the party on July 30, 2019, during which, in an interactive mode, with participation of representatives of the regional organizations of the party, the key provisions of the prepared projects were considered and tasks for their clarification and specification in the course of preparation for consideration of the updated program documents by the central bodies of the party were identified.

Participants of the event emphasized the importance of simultaneous preparation of two policy documents. At the same time, attention was drawn to the fact that the Party Program is, above all, an ideological document. It defines the political ideology of the party, its long-term program goals and priorities, as well as the main ways to achieve these goals.

Unlike the predominantly ideological nature of the Program, the Pre-Election Program determines the medium-term goals of the party for the period of the next term of office of the Oliy Majlis and Kengashes of People’s Deputies – until 2024. Accordingly, these documents define specific tasks for achieving the goals in the specified period.

Consistency of key priorities of the political ideology of the party

Participants of the video dialogue noted the importance of maintaining commitment to the key priorities of political ideology, which determine the political identity of the party and distinguish it from other existing parties in the country.

Based on the main political goal and social ideal of the party – the formation of a social democratic state in the country – the welfare of the state, these priorities are:

Social equality and justice – equal rights and equal opportunities for their free use, equal responsibility of all before the law, regardless of their social and property status.

Social solidarity – the unification of efforts of the state and all progressive forces of society, economically active and wealthy citizens, civil society institutions for effectively implementing the most important social programs and increasing the level of social protection of the population.

Social democracy – democracy for all, providing access, including to representatives of vulnerable groups of the population, to addressing priority tasks affecting their interests and living needs, through their deputies in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Kengashes of people’s deputies at places and directly through bodies of civil society institutions.

The party’s political position is based on social effectiveness of implemented reforms

Paying attention to the fact that the key priority in politics for the party is to increase the social efficiency of economic reforms, the participants in discussion attached great importance to forwarding concrete proposals in this direction.

It was emphasized that social effectiveness of reforms should be measurable and have a specific target. According to participants, such a guideline should become the inclusion of Uzbekistan, in 2020-2030, to the number of countries with the level and quality of life of the population not lower than that achieved in the middle developed countries of the world.

The opinion of the participants in the video dialogue was unanimous: practical measures on improving the level and quality of life should, first of all, cover the segments of the population who need targeted social protection and social support from the state and society and ensure full satisfaction of their vital needs.

This approach is justified. Using the country’s growing economic potential for increasing the level and quality of life of low-income and socially vulnerable segments of the population is one of the main factors in further strengthening the country’s social stability and civil consent. In turn, this is an important condition for both ensuring sustainable socio-economic development and increasing the investment attractiveness of Uzbekistan.

Whose interests does the party defend

This issue was also at the center of discussion. Speaking about protecting the interests of vulnerable segments of the population, many participants emphasized that it is necessary to clearly understand what social groups are united by this concept, what is their number (including, in the context of specific territories, up to the constituencies for elections to district and city Kengashes) in what exactly are their basic interests and necessities of life. Without this, it is impossible to determine and propose concrete ways to solve the corresponding economic and social problems.

In this regard, during the discussion, two main categories of the socially vulnerable population were identified.

The first of these, vulnerable groups of the unemployed, is pensioners, people with disabilities, women in large families, children left without parental care, lonely old people and other vulnerable segments of the population whose level of pensions and social benefits paid to them is insufficient to fully satisfy their vital needs.

The second category unites vulnerable groups of the able-bodied population, namely: the unemployed able-bodied population, people who have difficulties in finding jobs, young people who enter the labor market for the first time after graduation, people who do not have permanent jobs and solid earnings, internal and external labor migrants.

Moreover, according to official statistics, these two categories of socially vulnerable people are quite numerous, amounting to about 9 million people.

The participants emphasized that for each of these categories, the party should provide an individual approach, offer options for the implementation of their social interests and satisfaction of vital needs that are appropriate to the characteristics of these categories.

Mechanisms for implementing program goals

Much attention during the discussion was paid to practical mechanisms for implementing the program goals that the party sets itself. These mechanisms are fixed by the current legislation, and provisions of the Law “On Political Parties” and related legislative acts create necessary guarantees for their effective use.

In particular, participants emphasized that for successful implementation of the party’s program goals, it is necessary, firstly, to ensure the effective participation of the party’s deputy associations in normative activities.

It is about participation of the party’s faction in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis in the legislative process, as well as the more active initiation by party groups in Kengashes of people’s deputies at decision-making places at sessions and meetings of the standing commissions of Kengashes of people’s deputies that are in the interests of relevant social groups.

Secondly, an important area is the party’s participation in taking control over the implementation of laws and other legislative acts affecting the interests of basic social groups.

This direction of activity, first of all, is carried out through the organization of parliamentary and deputy control, respectively, the faction of the party in the Legislative Chamber and party groups in the councils of people’s deputies at places.

An important form of control activity of deputy associations is also the initiation by the party faction of parliamentary hearings in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and party groups at places – hearing the reports of officials in Kengashes of people’s deputies.

In addition, in the process of receiving citizens, organizing meetings of deputies with voters, deputy associations of parties and local party organizations are carrying out an important control function of social diagnostics – identifying problems affecting the interests of vulnerable segments of the population and facilitating the timely resolution of these problems.

Thirdly, another mechanism for practical implementation of the program goals and priorities of the party is practical participation of the party, in the person of all its links, in dialogue with people.

Relevant issues are resolved, first of all, during the work of deputies elected from the party in constituencies, providing systematic informing of the population about the functioning of the legislative-representative branch of government, as well as involving representatives of basic social groups in public discussion and public examination of draft laws and other normative-legal acts.

An important element of dialogue with people, carried out with practical participation of the party, is also the socio-political work of party organizations among the population, aimed at formation of a political, legal culture and development of socio-political activity of the population.

Pyramid of program goals

As it was noted during the video dialogue, it is well known that voters, for the most part, are not politicians. And they are interested in party programs, rather, not by the ideological, theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics set forth in the Party Program, but, to a greater extent, by those practical, tangible results that the party intends to achieve in solving problems affecting the interests of basic social groups.

In this regard, the thesis was expressed that if the Party Program is an integral document ensuring the ideological cohesion of the party, then the Pre-Election Program is inevitably a multi-level complex of program documents.

Participants of the video dialogue made an important conclusion about the need for practically building such a pyramid of program goals, which will allow at the level of constituencies for elections to district and city Kengashes to bring the program goals and priorities closer to the social interests and vital needs of the population of a particular territory. Moreover, to do this in a language that is understandable and accessible to most voters.

Participants of the video dialogue came to a common opinion that success of the upcoming election campaign in each constituency will largely depend on how clearly this task is solved.