Uzbekistan has lastly addressed the “authorized hole” in regulating actions of the Administration of the President vis-a-vis different state our bodies. A minimum of, that is how the president’s press secretary, Sherzod Asadov, framed a brand new constitutional regulation that strengthens the administration’s standing, grants lifetime immunity to its officers and extends its outreach.
The Legislative Chamber handed the Legislation on the Administration of the President on August 6; the Senate accredited it the very subsequent day. There was no public dialogue and the physique of the regulation was not disclosed earlier than the president signed it on August 14.
The administration was launched to “present info, analytical, organizational and supervisory assist for the actions of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” in 2018, two years after Shavkat Mirziyoyev got here to energy. In 2018-2022 it was headed by Zaynilobiddin Nizomiddinov, and in 2022-2023 by Sardor Umurzakov.
In that point, Mirziyoyev’s eldest daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, served as a deputy director of the Company for Data and Mass Communications underneath the administration in 2019-2020, and as a deputy chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nationwide Fund for Help and Growth of Mass Media in 2020-2022.
She began working as head of the Division for Communications and Data Coverage of the Government Workplace of the Presidential Administration in 2022 earlier than turning into an assistant to the president in August 2023. On the similar time, Umurzakov was moved to a different place and the head-of-administration publish was abolished. In June 2025 the publish was re-established, and Mirziyoyeva was appointed as the top of the administration.
The brand new regulation, which consists of 4 chapters and 34 articles, extends the primary daughter’s energy. The doc establishes that the top of the administration just isn’t elected, however appointed and dismissed by the president himself. The Legislative Chamber’s approval just isn’t required, as it’s with the prime minister publish. Not solely can the administration now “challenge necessary directions and assignments to heads of state our bodies and organizations” (article 7), however punish those that fail at their job with “disciplinary actions,” and even hearth them.
The regulation additionally provides Mirziyoyeva management over regional hokims (governors). The administration can monitor the implementation of all presidential orders, manage the authorized and administrative course of for the president to nominate and dismiss regional governors, and dismiss district and metropolis hokims for breaking the regulation or another improper conduct (article 18). The administration can do all of this whereas having direct entry to the database of any authorities establishment (article 7).
Article 19 instantly collides with the institutional independence of the judicial system. The article spells out that the administration, a physique with no judicial perform or unbiased accountability, “coordinates reforms within the judicial and authorized sphere [and] develops proposals for reforming the judicial system.” This basically implies that the presidential administration can participate in shaping the nation’s judicial-legal reform instantly.
The administration may even take over the anti-corruption compliance system. Mirziyoyeva will appoint and dismiss “deputies (advisors) of heads of state our bodies and organizations on the republican stage for compliance and inside management in opposition to corruption” (article 21) The Diplomat earlier reported that every authorities establishment now has deputies for compliance and inside management in opposition to corruption in all state businesses, which instantly report back to the presidential administration. This basically implies that individuals now should report governmental stage corruption circumstances to a authorities physique that has no mechanisms for accountability, however has its officers assured lifetime immunity in opposition to any prison cost, arrest, or inspection.
Solely Uzbekistan’s prosecutor common can provoke a prison case in opposition to employees of the presidential administration, whose immunity after their departure from a publish is to final for 5 years and any circumstances associated to such employees shall be reviewed by the Supreme Court docket. In the meantime, officers within the presidential administration, reminiscent of its head, now have a lifetime immunity. Some safety additionally applies to the members of the family (spouses, kids, and oldsters) of presidential administration officers and employees, extending to privateness of non-public {and professional} life, not authorized impunity.
Past these vital adjustments, the regulation additionally grants the top of the presidential administration an computerized appointment as deputy chair of the Safety Council and thru the Safety Council’s Secretariat “ensures the President’s constitutional powers referring to the Armed Forces, protection, mobilization, safety, and emergency conditions.” Due to this fact, Mirziyoyeva will be capable of train authority over the nation’s armed forces and nationwide safety equipment.
The brand new Legislation On the Administration of the President sends a few vital indicators. First, it legally codifies what the primary daughter has already been doing – exercising energy with no accountability or restrict. She just isn’t elected by the individuals however appointed by her father. Second, it establishes within the regulation a failsafe mechanism in case one thing occurs to the president earlier than his present time period runs out.
Third, Mirziyoyeva is clearly not simply the president’s daughter, however is being positioned as a possible successor. Her coaching days are over. Now she is being trusted with the best stage duties, with the flexibility to command nearly all authorities establishments, monitor their actions, and demand accountability at her will, all whereas having lifelong immunity for her personal actions.