Governors no longer head the councils of people's deputies

The law "On Local State Power" has been amended to remove the provision that previously allowed governors of regions, mayors of districts, and cities to simultaneously serve as heads of representative bodies in their respective areas. This change is part of a new law signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on October 17.

The revised law aims to clarify the roles and powers of governors and the Councils of People's Deputies, introducing several key changes to existing legal frameworks.

Governors' Powers Expanded: Governors now have the authority to present issues at Council sessions, call for the convening of a session when necessary, and seek intervention from the Senate or courts to annul Council decisions that violate the law.

Leadership of Councils: The Councils of People's Deputies will now be led by a chairman elected from among the deputies. This chairman will serve on a public basis, and procedures have been established for their possible dismissal before the end of their term.

Unified Electronic System: Strengthened requirements have been put in place to register documents issued by the Councils of People's Deputies and governors in a unified electronic system for the development, agreement, and registration of local state authority decisions. Unregistered documents will be considered invalid and hold no legal weight.

Official Source of Publication: An amendment to the Law "On Normative-Legal Documents" designates the unified electronic system as the official source for publishing decisions made by local state authorities.

The change in leadership structure, whereby Councils will be chaired by elected deputies, will take effect after the next elections for regional and Tashkent city councils. For district and city representative and executive bodies, the new leadership model will be implemented from January 1, 2026.

The draft law was developed by the Ministry of Justice and introduced to the Oliy Majlis at the initiative of a group of deputies.