Uzbekistan to hold constitutional referendum on April 30

A referendum on the constitutional amendments is planned to be held Uzbekistan on April 30, the decision has been made by the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis today. The resolution has been submitted to the Senate for approval.

The deputies worked out all the proposed amendments to the present Constitution in detail and at the plenary session decided to hold a nationwide referendum on the Constitution of Uzbekistan in a new edition on April 30.

What constitutional changes are planned?
The republic's Constitution will be changed by 65%. According to the innovations, new articles will appear in the Constitution: there will be 155 of them instead of the existing 128, and there will also be almost twice as many constitutional norms with direct effect. In addition to this, the highest normative legal act of the republic will stipulate that Uzbekistan is declared a social state. The law will pay more attention to the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the freedom of the media will also be guaranteed.

The number of terms of a person's tenure will be limited. For a maximum of two consecutive terms, it will be possible to hold such positions as the President of Uzbekistan, Speaker of the Legislative Chamber, Chairman of the Senate, Chairman of the Supreme Court, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Judges, Chairman of the CEC, Prosecutor General and others.

The updates will also affect the Parliament: the number of members of the Senate of the Republic will be reduced from 100 to 65.

At the end of 2021, the Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed to change the existing Constitution. The current basic law came into force at the end of 1992 and was amended three times, most recently in 2017.