How many times has the constitution changed during the period of Karimov and Mirziyoyev?

Currently, the issue of amending and supplementing the constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan is at the center of a public debate.  Although the amendments and additions to the constitution are not new to independent Uzbekistan, the following changes and additions are expected to be radically different from previous ones.

That is why, the Constitutional Commission on constitutional amendments and implementation of organizational measures was established under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament), Akmal Saidov.

Question: How many amendments have been made to the constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is now 30 years old?

QALAMPIR.UZ reviews the changes made to the country’s main encyclopedia during the presidency of Islam Karimov and Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan was adopted on 8 December 1992 by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan.  However, the present document is very different from the first.  The constitution has been amended 15 times:

The first amendment, the law of 28 December 1993, replaced the words “consisting of 150 MP” in Part 1 of Article 77 of the constitution with the words “consisting of 150 MPs”

The second amendment, the law of 24 April 2003, amended and supplemented articles of chapters XVIII-XX and XXIII of the constitution.  According to the amendments, the main change was the election of a bicameral parliament and the appointment of the president for 7 years instead of 5 years.

The third amendment, the law of 11 April 2007, amended article 89, article 93, paragraph 15, and part two of the article 102 of the constitution.

The fourth amendment, the law of 25 December 2008, provides that article 77 of the constitution provides that the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) shall consist of one hundred and fifty MPs elected in accordance with the law.

The fifth amendment - The law of 18 April 2011 amended articles 78, 80, 93, 96, and 98 of the constitution.  In particular, Article 96 has been amended to the following norm:  “If the president is unable to carry out his duties and powers, his powers shall be temporarily transferred to the chairman of the Senate.  Presidential elections will be held in three months”.

The sixth amendment. A law adopted on 12 December 2011 amended Article 90 of the constitution to change the president’s term of office from seven to five years.

The seventh amendment - The law, adopted on 16 April 2014, introduced amendments to the articles 32, 78, 93, 98, 103, and 117 of the constitution. Article 6 was amended. Article 32 was supplemented by the concept “The procedure for implementing public control over the activities of State bodies shall be established by law”.

The eighth amendment- The law, adopted on 6 April 2017, amends Articles 80, 81, 83, 93, 107, 110, and 111 of the constitution.  One of the most important changes is that in Article 81, part 7, the words “Supreme Economic Court” have been replaced by the words “Supreme Council of Judges”. Article 111 of the Constitution defines the legal status of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary.

The ninth amendment – the law, adopted on 31 May 2017, amends Articles 80, 93, 108, and 109 of the constitution.  The main changes were to strengthen the independence of the Constitutional Court.

The tenth amendment - The law of 29 August 2017 introduced amendments and supplemented Articles 99 and 102 of the constitution.  Article 102 stipulates that the appointment and dismissal of khokims (governors) from districts within the city of Tashkent shall be the responsibility of the khokim (mayor) of Tashkent.

The eleventh amendment - The law adopted on 15 October 2018 amended Article 105 of the constitution.  According to it, in part 1 of this article the words “chairman (aksakal) and his advisors for two and a half years” have been replaced by the words “chairman (aksakal)”.

The twelfth amendment - The law, adopted on 18 February 2019, amended and supplemented Articles 80 and 93 of the constitution.  The main change was the transformation of the National Security Service into the State Security Service.  That is, in Article 80, paragraph 7, and Article 93, paragraph 24, paragraph 1, the word “national” has been replaced by the word “State”.

The thirteenth amendment - The law, adopted on 5 March 2019, amended Articles 79, 93, and 98 of the constitution.  One of the important changes was the approval and dismissal of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the proposal of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan after approval by the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The fourteenth amendment - the law, adopted on 4 September 2019, amended and supplemented articles 96 and 117 of the constitution.  According to this, Article 117 provides that persons who have been declared incompetent by the court, as well as persons detained in places of deprivation of liberty for serious and particularly serious crimes, cannot participate in elections.  In any other case, no direct or indirect restriction is permitted.  According to the previous version, anyone held in a maximum-security facility could not vote.

The fifteenth amendment - Article 117 of the constitution was amended by a law adopted on 8 February 2021.  In particular, in the second part of article 117, the word ‘December’ has been replaced by the word “October”.

For reference, the United States Constitution, one of the first world constitutions, has been amended 27 times in the 235 years since its adoption in 1787.  The current French Constitution was adopted in 1958 and has been amended 24 times to date.