Draft Of Uzbek New Constitution Allows Incumbent President To Be Elected For Third Term

TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th March, 2023) The draft law on "The Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan" allows incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to be elected for the third consecutive term, according to the document published on Wednesday.

The lower house of the Uzbek parliament last Friday decided to hold a referendum on the new constitution on April 30. The upper house of Uzbekistan backed the decision on Tuesday. The new constitution is planned to be updated with 27 new articles, thus increasing their total number from 128 to 155. Following the amendments, the constitution is expected to be updated by 65% in total.

According to Article 106 of the new constitution, "the same person cannot be president of the Republic of Uzbekistan for more than two consecutive terms." However, according to the constitutional law, its provisions " "changing and (or) otherwise affecting the terms of office, the procedure and (or) conditions of election (appointment) of public officials, shall apply to persons holding such positions at the time of the entry into force of this constitutional law," according to the document, published by Uzbek state-run newspaper Khalq Sozi.

"These persons have the right to be elected (appointed) on an equal basis with other citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the specific positions in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, including this version of the constitutional law, and regardless of the number of consecutive terms during which these persons have held and (or) occupy these positions at the time this constitutional law goes into effect," the text of the law said.

Mirziyoyev was first elected the president of Uzbekistan in a snap election in December 2016, three months after the death of the country's first president, islam Karimov. In October 2021, Mirziyoyev was reelected as the president after securing 80.12% of the votes.