RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Abdusalamov, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Uzbekistan, that election of the president will take place on December 23.

Sources claim in the meantime that the presidential campaign in Uzbekistan will begin on September 21. Alimov, Press Secretary of the Central Electoral Commission, said no candidates for president applied for official registration yet.

Islam Karimov's term of office expired in January 2007. Karimov has been president of the Republic of Uzbekistan since December 1991. He was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan, essentially the leader of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, since March 1989.