Voter turnout at Uzbekistan’s presidential elections on December 4 stood at 87.83%, the Central Election Committee said. Election results are expected to be announced on December 5.

The Uzbek elections are widely seen as a formality organised to ensure the official transition of acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the presidency. Mirziyoyev was appointed interim president following the death of strongman Islam Karimov, who had run the resource-rich former Soviet republic with an iron fist since 1989. In the run-up to the vote, Mirziyoyev has offered a promise of change and announced a number of radical reforms.

Some of the promised changes include a decree aimed at providing legal guarantees to “drastically reduce [government] interference” in the activities of businesses. The decree is set to abolish all unscheduled inspections of activities of business entities and any counter-checking of such activities starting from 1 January 2017. Thus, regulatory authorities of Uzbekistan will be prevented from abusing their power.

The new Uzbek leader also announced a programme to provide better housing, proposed amendments to ease Uzbeks’ ability to renounce Uzbek citizenship and rehabilitated banned artists, among other positive signs. Most notably, in a pledge to improve Uzbekistan’s investment climate, Mirziyoyev unveiled on November 28 a plan to liberalise the country’s currency market.