In Uzbekistan, July is the cruellest month. The merciless, blistering heat can make Uzbeks want to hide in the tiniest patch of shade – or not to be outdoors at all.
The people who can afford a vacation in colder climes are gone, while millions of farmers start tending to their plants or cattle at dawn when the air is still chilly.
Many Uzbeks would prefer to stay in their air-conditioned homes on Sunday, even though for weeks they have been urged to cast their vote in the snap presidential election.
“Are you joking? I’m not going anywhere. My vote means nothing anyway,” Karim, a 27-year-old who sells mobile phone cases from a tiny kiosk in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, told Al Jazeera.
For more than three decades of Uzbekistan’s independence, presidential votes were held in early December. The snap vote being held in a “dead season” is deliberate, said Timur Numanov, a popular political blogger.
“Authorities did everything to kill interest to these snap non-elections,” he said.
Original from www.aljazeera.com