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TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan goes to the polls on Sunday with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev moving to consolidate his grip on power as he faces a slew of economic challenges and after the Central Asian nation was hit by deadly unrest.
Mirziyoyev, who first came to power in 2016, is expected to win a landslide in a country with little in the way of genuine opposition, mirroring most of Uzbekistan's ex-Soviet state neighbors. This will be the 65-year-old leader's third time seeking a mandate after a turbulent second term that lasted less than two years.
