Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has announced an early presidential election will be held in a move that follows recent constitutional amendments that extended the presidential term from five to seven years.
No date has been announced for the snap election, but the vote will come within two months of Mirziyoev's May 8 announcement in accordance with Uzbek law.
In making the announcement, Mirziyoev said he was relinquishing the remaining three and a half years of his presidential term on his "own initiative."
Mirziyoev said the decision was necessary to maintain balance among "all branches of power" following the constitutional changes and because of the need to implement the constitutional changes effectively.
A three-month deadline has also been given for extraordinary parliamentary elections, although no decision has been made on the dissolution of the current bicameral body.
A referendum on the constitutional amendments held on April 30 passed by a landslide, paving the way for the extension of the presidential term. Authorities billed the changes as a way to improve governance in the tightly controlled nation, but observers have suggested the main objective of the initiative was to extend Mirziyoev's time in office.
Mirziyoev, 66, was elected to his second five-year term as president in 2021. Winning the early presidential election could give him an extra 14 years in office, meaning he would be 80 years old if he remains president through his second term ending in 2037.
Mirziyoev was first elected president in 2016, succeeding late longtime leader Islam Karimov.
A former prime minister, Mirziyoev undertook a series of reforms to modernize the country’s oppressive bureaucracy, pushing Karimov loyalists out of top government posts and bringing in younger technocrats.
Karimov was elected president four times despite the constitutionally allowed two presidential terms and extended his time in office once through a referendum. During his presidency the presidential term was changed from five to seven years, and then again from seven to five years.
Karimov remained in power until his death in 2016 at the age of 78.