Uzbekistan elects Shavkat Mirziyoyev president

TASHKENT , Uzbekistan, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Shavrat Mirziyoyev won Uzbekistan's presidential election with 88.6 percent of the vote, the national electoral commission announced Monday.

Sunday's vote came after authoritarian President Islam Karimov died in September after 27 years of rule in the oil-rich nation adjoining Afghanistan. His death prompted fear of a power struggle, but Mirziyoyev was appointed interim president until the election. The appointment, six days after Karimov's death, bypassed a constitutional rule calling for the house parliamentary speaker to ascend to the presidency.

Mirziyoyev was Uzbekistan's prime minister for 13 years.

The election turnout was 87.8 percent, with 17 million votes cast, the Central Election Commission said. The Democratic and Human Rights agency of the Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the one-sided results of the vote reinforced "the need for comprehensive reforms" in Uzbekistan, where Karimov's power increased after regular presidential elections denounced as undemocratic by Western governments.