Shavkat Mirziyoyev Finally Has Day in the Sun

By a decision of Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission on October 20, presidential candidate status was formally granted to Shavkat Mirziyoyev and three others for the upcoming December 4 vote. Mirziyoyev, whose position as acting president makes him the only viable candidate, is running with backing from the Liberal-Democratic Party, which historically put forward the nominations of the late leader Islam Karimov.

In his first major post-candidacy approval outing, Mirziyoyev spoke on November 1 on three Uzbek television stations in two hour-long programs to set forth his platform. A day later, his official biography was published on the Liberal-Democratic Party’s website. This is the first time that Mirziyoyev has been made subject of such detailed attention, despite his 13-year stint as prime minister. One curious nugget regarded the partial naming of his wife, whose identity has heretofore been shrouded in secrecy.

First the more mundane details: “Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev was born on July 24, 1957, in Zaamin district, Jizzakh region to the family of a doctor. He is Uzbek by ethnicity and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Tashkent Institute of Engineers of Irrigation and Mechanization of Agriculture in 1981. He is a Candidate of Technical Sciences and an associate professor.”

Mirziyoyev is married and has two daughters and one son, as well as five grandchildren. His wife — Z.M. Hoshimova — is an “economy engineer,” a somewhat unclear professional category. She is now a housewife, according to the biography. 

Mirziyoyev has a couple of state awards — “Mehnat Shuhrati” (Labor Glory) and “Fidokorona Hizmatlari Uchun” (For Glories in Labor).

Although the biography makes for sedate reading, it is more than the wider Uzbek public has been able to learn about Mirziyoyev in his 13 years at the head of government. Even television reports about the Cabinet would often not even feature the prime minister, focusing instead of lower-ranking officials.

The personalized nature of Uzbek politics meant that the regularly trumpeted economic successes, such as they were, would be heavily associated with Karimov. To have featured Mirziyoyev more heavily might have implied that he had a greater role in running the government than the authorities would have preferred to convey. Instead, Mirziyoyev was treated as the workhorse laboring in the shadows. But now he is having his day in the sun.