国际英语新闻:Uzbekistan announces preliminary results in parliamentary elections

TASHKENT, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- In Sunday's vote, 128 deputies of the 150-seat lower house of the Uzbek parliament were elected and the second round of the elections will be held in two weeks, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said Monday.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan led the vote, winning 43 seats, and the National Revival Democratic Party came second with 35 seats, CEC Chairman Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov said, adding that the Social Democratic Party Adolat got 21 seats and ranked third, followed by the People's Democratic Party and the Ecological Party, winning 18 and 11 seats respectively so far.

Early in the day, an election observers' mission from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS), a regional organization comprising former Soviet republics, called the voting free, transparent and democratic.

On Sunday, people in Uzbekistan voted for a parliament with a 71.1-percent turnout, which the CEC called a success and great achievement for the country.

Uzbekistan used a Unified Electronic Voter List for the first time, with more than 20.5 million voters registered, according to the CEC.

A total of 825 observers, as well as representatives of nine international organizations and 41 foreign countries including China, observed the election process in all regions of the country.