Uzbekistan's incumbent leader wins 2nd term in office

Preliminary results from Uzbekistan’s presidential election show the incumbent leader winning a second five-year term in the tightly controlled Central Asian nation

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan's incumbent leader has won a second five-year term in the tightly controlled Central Asian nation, preliminary results showed Monday.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev received 80.1% of Sunday's vote, the country's Central Election Commission announced.

Mirziyoyev, who took office in 2016 following the death of longtime President Islam Karimov, has relaxed many of the policies of his dictatorial predecessor but maintained rigid controls over the political scene.

In Sunday's election, he faced four relatively low-visibility candidates who didn’t even show up for televised debates, instead sending proxies who failed to engage in substantial discussions. Independent candidates weren’t allowed, and if it had not been for the billboards presenting the candidates and text messages sent by the government reminding voters about the forthcoming election, the campaign would have been hard to spot.