ISSUES OF ENSURING THE PRINCIPLES OF OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY IN ELECTIONS TO LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE BODIES

Abstract

This article examines the urgent legal problems of ensuring the principles of openness and transparency in elections to local representative bodies. The primary objective of the research is to analyze the legal conflict between Articles 3 and 33 of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan and to institutionalize the participation of non-partisan civil society institutions (NGOs and independent volunteers) as observers in local elections. Using comparative-legal, systematic, and normative analysis methods, the legislation of the United Kingdom, the United States (California), and Poland was studied. As a result, specific legislative proposals were developed for amending the Electoral Code to include NGOs and independent citizens as observers and to introduce a mechanism for their official accreditation. It is concluded that the practical implementation of these legal proposals will strengthen effective public oversight over state governance in the country and raise the socio-legal trust in the electoral system to a high level.