The political framework of Uzbekistan

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Shavkat Mirziyoev (since 8 September 2016)
Prime Minister: Abdulla Oripov (since 14 December 2016)
Next Election Dates: Presidential: March 2026
Senate: December 2024
Legislative Chamber: December 2024
Main Political Parties: The government suppresses all political opposition, and there are no recognised opposition parties. The four political parties represented in the 150-seat Legislative Chamber are all supportive of the current leadership:

- Liberal Democratic Party: catch-all party, populist, authoritarian, third way
- National Revival Democratic Party: centre-right, nationalist, pro-modernisation
- Justice Social Democratic Party: centre-left, social democrat, secular, third way
- People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan: departure of the former Communist part, nationalist, authoritarian
- Ecological Party of Uzbekistan: green politics
Furthermore, Birlik (Unity), Erk (Freedom), and Birdamlik (People's Democratic Movement) are banned democratic parties.
Executive Power: The President is the chief of the state and is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which can be renewed once. The Prime minister is the head of the government and is in charge of the cabinet and responsible for the economy. The President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and holds almost all the executive powers. He selects and replaces provincial governors. The Prime Minister and cabinet ministers are also directly appointed by the President with confirmation by the parliament.
Legislative Power: The legislature is bicameral in Uzbekistan. The parliament called Supreme Assembly (or Oliy Majlis) consists of: the Senate (the upper house) having 100 seats with 84 members elected by regional governing councils to serve five-year terms and 16 are appointed by the President; and the Legislative Chamber (the lower house) having 150 seats with its members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. The President and the executive branch completely dominate the legislature and can dissolve it if they wish so. The Parliament meets only a few days every year and has little power to shape laws. The people of Uzbekistan have very limited political rights.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 157/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.