On Monday, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev called an early presidential election for July 9.
The old Electoral Code contemplated holding extraordinary presidential elections, as well as in the event of the death of the Head of State, only if he could not perform his duties for three months.
On April 30, Uzbekistan held a referendum on reforms to the Constitution in which 90 percent of voters supported strengthening the presidential powers of Mirziyoyev, whose current term expired in 2026.
The constitutional reform, which modifies two thirds of the articles of the Magna Carta, also extends the presidential mandate from five to seven years, but limits the exercise of leadership to two periods.
✉️ President Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the leaders of Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Ossetia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, to the people of Georgia & Moldova – on the 78th Anniversary of Victory.
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In this way Mirziyoyev, who has been in power since 2016 and was re-elected in 2021, could remain at the head of the country until 2037, since his first two terms do not count as they were exercised before the constitutional reform.
The amendments also declare Uzbekistan a social state, strengthen the rule of law, repeal the death penalty, favor foreign investment, and allow land ownership.
In the first years of his term, Mirziyoyev, 65, was praised for the economic opening and some social reforms, among which is the fight against child exploitation in the cotton harvest.
