Oriented on making people closer

The Uzbek parliament plans to implement a constitutional reform, which may become the largest in the history of Uzbekistan. 27 new articles can be introduced into the Basic Law of the country, bringing their total number to 155, and 159 more will be added to the existing norms, bringing their number to 434.

In total, the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan received about 220 thousand proposals for constitutional reform. At the same time, as the deputies noted, every fourth proposal will be included in the draft of the new constitution.

ORIENT presents the main theses on the changes that may affect the neighboring republic:

1) Uzbekistan will become a social state: the number of norms affecting the social aspects of the life of ordinary citizens will increase threefold, and the once — existing principle of "state — society — person" will be changed to "person — society - state". Thus, society will remain the main link in this "troika", but now priority will be given to the person and his needs.

2) The number of senators in the legislature is planned to be reduced from 100 to 65, and the term of office of the president will be extended from 5 to 7 years. Preference will be given to a more comprehensive representation.

3) The powers of deputies of local councils will be increased by reducing the powers of heads of administrations, which will increase the effectiveness of local people's councils and strengthen their positions in decision-making.

4) The size of pensions, allowances and other social benefits will no longer be less than the minimum consumer spending. The media will become public — they are guaranteed freedom of activity, and obstruction or interference in their activities will be punished by law.

5) One person cannot be elected to a high state post for more than two terms. Such a decision will apply to the President, the Speaker of the Legislative Chamber, the Chairman of the Senate, the chairmen of local authorities, the head and deputy head of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Council of Judges, the Prosecutor General and the head of the Central Election Commission.

6) The formation and development of civil society in the country will be one of the main priorities of state policy. Thus, the updated constitution presupposes the creation of transparency and legality through the establishment of a strong contact between the state and society. In addition, guarantees are defined for the formation of these goals.

7) Citizens will enjoy advantages in disputes over environmental problems as a result of the activities of legal entities.

Disputes about the draft of the new version of the constitution have not subsided to this day: some groups of citizens, for example, advocate declaring Uzbekistan a neutral state, while others advocate the establishment of an age limit for high government positions in the country.

And yet the document of the basic law itself was read 12 times article by article in the presence of experts, and various committees held debates and hearings with citizens about 40 times. The updated Constitution is one of the largest domestic political projects of the current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

A referendum on the adoption of a new constitution will be held on April 30 this year. The Basic Law of the Republic was adopted in 1992. For all the years of state independence, additions and amendments to it have been made 15 times.

ORIENT

Photo: parliament.gov.uz