The introduction of amendments to the law of Uzbekistan on the referendum is underway

It is planned to amend the law «On Referendum in the Republic of Uzbekistan».  The relevant draft law was discussed at a meeting of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament).

According to the outcomes of the meeting, based on the recent amendments introduced to the Electoral Code, it is planned to introduce several changes to the law "on Referendums of the Republic of Uzbekistan" including the concretization of the powers of referendum commissions, consideration of appeals against the decisions of commissions, expansion of the rights of observers, and several other amendments.

The meeting also discussed the law “On the introduction of amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the improvement of the electoral process in local councils of people’s deputies”.

The draft law provides for amendments and additions to 1 Code and 2 laws.  In particular, the Electoral Code is being fulfilled with the norms on the determination of the number of constituencies for the elections to the newly formed councils of People's MPs in the newly formed regions, districts, and cities and the formation of relevant election commissions for the conduct of elections and the election of local councils in the newly established administrative-territorial units for the term of local councils and election regulations.

In particular, the law «On the status of the MPs of the regional, district, city council of people’s MPs” stipulates that in case of transfer of the territory of the constituency to another administrative-territorial unit or creation of a new territorial unit, the term of office of the MP elected from these constituencies shall not expire and shall correspond to the term of office of the local council.

In addition, the law «On the Administrative and Territorial Organization of the Republic of Uzbekistan» is supplemented by a new article 401, which establishes the rules for changing the boundaries of electoral districts when resolving issues of administrative and territorial organization.

It was stressed within the meeting that the draft law will serve to conduct elections in case of creation of new administrative and territorial units or change of borders of administrative and territorial units, as well as to eliminate legal misapprehension in the powers of MPs in this field.

The draft laws have been merged into a single bill «On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan» and have been adopted in the third reading.