Uzbeks cynical of election marred by apathy

By Maria Golovnina

TASHKENT (Reuters) - Azimzhan, his face weathered after years of making bread in a traditional Uzbek bakery, broke into laughter when asked about Sunday's presidential election.

"Obviously I will vote because that's what everyone will do. My family will vote, my neighbors will vote," he said in his dimly lit mudbrick shop in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

"But it will not change anything. It's just another thing we have to do," he added, the fire from the tandyr oven flickering in his eyes.

President Islam Karimov, in power since 1989, is all but certain to extend his long reign in the Sunday election in which he faces three friendly rivals.

He tolerates little dissent in his former Soviet country and public criticism of him is taboo.

The broad streets of central Tashkent, a mixture of Soviet-era buildings and Uzbek houses adorned with traditional Islamic patterns, have been devoid of almost all forms of campaigning in the run-up to the vote.

On the eve of the election, most people polled by Reuters shied away from any talk about the election.

But in the maze of the old city's narrow dusty streets, lined with clay houses, mosques and craftsman shops like Azimzhan's bakery, Uzbeks were more talkative, though keen to stay out of politics.