Constitutional reform to allow Mirziyoyev to run for reelection - Uzbek Senate deputy speaker
TASHKENT. June 17 (Interfax) - Amendments to the Uzbek constitution will allow incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to run for reelection, Uzbek Senate First Deputy Speaker Sadyk Safayev said.
"Should the new constitution be adopted, it will definitely allow all citizens, including the incumbent president, to stand in elections consistent with the new constitution. Whether the president uses this opportunity, this right, or not, primarily depends on this person and the party that nominates him. Yet he will have this right," Safayev said in an interview with the Kun.uz online media outlet.
The last five years have shown that President Mirziyoyev is "not a politician clinging to power," he said.
"We can see that he is a man who has devoted his life to serving the country, the homeland. We can see how hard he is trying to ease the burden carried by our people and to secure their wellbeing and their future," Safayev said, adding that, in his opinion, Mirziyoyev should carry on the reforms he started.
The largest countries in the world "recognize Shavkat Mirziyoyev as the leader of a new formation for the work he has done inside the country and in foreign politics over the past five years," he said.
"The continuity and consistency of our reforms and policy are important to us. These are the issues linked to President Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev. I do not know what decision he would make but I personally want this continuity to be maintained," Safayev said.
The current constitution says that Uzbekistan holds presidential elections every five years, and the same person can't be elected president of Uzbekistan for more than two consecutive terms.
Incumbent President Mirziyoyev was elected in December 2016, following the death of First President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov in September 2016. He was reelected on October 24, 2021, with 80.12% of the vote.
Mirziyoyev called for amending the constitution in December 2021. He referred to public opinion and said it was necessary to augment the constitution with provisions to develop family institution, continue to strengthen inter-ethnic accord, ban child labor, protect the rights of disabled and elderly persons, and deal with ecological problems.
Both chambers of the Uzbek parliament appointed members of the constitutional reform commission at a joint meeting on May 20 at the proposal of the political parties. The My Constitution web portal was launched to collect public proposals on constitutional amendments.
The Uzbek constitution was adopted on December 8, 1992.