Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev (born 24 July 1957) is an Uzbek politician who has served as the second president of Uzbekistan since 2016. A member of the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, he served as the third prime minister under President Islam Karimov from 2003 to 2016. Mirziyoyev has also served as chairman of the Organization of Turkic States since 2022.

Mirziyoyev joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR in 1990. From mid-1990s, he headed several regions of Jizzakh and Samarqand as a governor (hakim) before his appointment as prime minister by then-President Karimov.

Following the death of President Karimov, Mirziyoyev was appointed by the Oliy Majlis as acting president of Uzbekistan on 8 September 2016. He was subsequently elected to a full five-year term as president in the 2016 election from the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party (OʻzLiDeP), winning 88.6% of the vote. Mirziyoyev was re-elected for second five-year term with 80.3% of the vote in the 2021 presidential election, and then again for a renewed first seven-year term with 87.7% of the vote in a snap 2023 presidential election as an independent candidate with the OʻzLiDeP backing, after a constitutional amendment had granted him to legally run for third time after resetting his presidential term of office.

Under his presidency, Mirziyoyev implemented a range of liberal reforms in Uzbekistan’s political system, economy by creating a favorable business-climate, attracting foreign investment and re-integrating the country into the WTO, consolidation and unity of Central Asian region through resolution of pressing issues by attracting foreign investment, development of an open foreign policy and multifaceted cooperation with the Western, European, Eastern and Middle East countries, as well as release of political prisoners that was notably accompanied by closure of the infamous Jaslyk Prison in 2019. In late 2021, he announced a series of constitutional reforms which included the protection of human rights, which were ratified following the 2023 constitutional referendum with an overwhelming 90.6% of support. One of the proposed changes had initially included a removal of the semi-autonomous Karakalpakstan's right to secession, which led to deadly unrest in the region in July 2022 with the protests being brutally suppressed and resulting in the scrapping of the controversial proposal.