When Saida Mirziyoeva entered Uzbekistan's government in 2019, she was largely unknown and had no previous political experience.
Seven years later, the eldest daughter of President Shavkat Mirziyoev has become one of the most powerful people in the country and a figure increasingly discussed as a possible successor to her father.
A law signed by Mirziyoev on August 14 has given that speculation a new dimension by formally expanding the powers of the Presidential Administration, which Mirziyoeva, 41, heads.
Under the law, the head of the administration -- the president's chief of staff -- becomes deputy chair of the Security Council, which is headed by the president and coordinates the country's security, law enforcement and military structures. Mirziyoeva will also organize and coordinate the activities of the council's members.
Alisher Ilhomov, a London-based Central Asia analyst, said the change is particularly significant because control over the security apparatus is one of the main pillars of the president's power.
"She was already de facto the No. 2 person in the country after the president, but her position was not strongly regulated by law. Now a legal foundation has been created that allows her to concentrate power and control over the security agencies," Ilhomov said.
The new powers are the latest step in a rapid political rise that has repeatedly fueled speculation that Mirziyoev could be preparing his daughter for the presidency.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev (fourth from right) and members of his family pose while voting in a presidential election in July 2023.
Mirziyoev, 69, won a third term in a tightly scripted election in 2023, while being awarded 87 percent of the vote. The same year, he engineered a constitutional overhaul that extended the presidential term to seven years and gave him the right to run again in 2030, meaning he could rule until 2037.
Mirziyoeva joined the government in April 2019 as deputy head of the Agency for Information and Mass Communications, a position that also made her a deputy presidential adviser.
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In November 2022, she was appointed head of the Communications and Information Policy Department in the Presidential Administration, placing her at the center of the government's media and public relations strategy.
Then, in August 2023, Mirziyoeva was appointed first assistant to the president, effectively becoming the second highest-ranking official in the Presidential Administration after the president. At the time, independent Uzbek journalist Jahongir Muhammad described her rise as "meteoric."
"A literally unknown person got the second-highest post in Uzbekistan out of the blue," he said.
High-Profile Responsibilities
In June 2025, Mirziyoev restored the position of head of the Presidential Administration and appointed his daughter to the post, further consolidating her position at the center of the government.
Saida Mirziyoeva and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow in May 2025
Mirziyoeva has since taken on additional high-profile responsibilities. In November 2025, she was appointed Uzbek co-chair of the newly established American-Uzbek Business and Investment Council.
The appointment gave Mirziyoeva a prominent role in managing a major channel of Uzbekistan's economic relations with the United States.
There has been no official indication that Mirziyoeva is being prepared to succeed her father.
But her expanding role has also revived comparisons with Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Islam Karimov, who was Uzbekistan's president from 1990, before the Soviet Union's collapse, until his death in 2016.
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But unlike Karimova, Mirziyoeva has steadily accumulated formal government positions.
Sweeping Authority
The latest law goes further by giving the office Mirziyoeva heads sweeping authority over government bodies and state institutions.
The Presidential Administration can monitor and coordinate the work of government agencies and regional authorities, evaluate officials, issue instructions, and make proposals on domestic and foreign policy. It has also now acquired a role in coordinating the work of law enforcement and security structures.
The law has drawn particular attention for its broad immunity provisions.
Some senior Presidential Administration officials will retain immunity for life after leaving office, while other managerial officials will retain it for five years.
The protections extend to their homes, vehicles, correspondence, and electronic data, and place significant restrictions on criminal investigations and other procedural measures against them.
Mirziyoeva during a visit to Uzbekistan's Andijon region in June.
Shukhrat Latipov, a journalist with the independent Uzbek outlet Gazeta.uz, questioned the breadth of the immunity provisions in the new law, writing on Telegram that they raised questions that required additional public explanation.
"I don't know whether employees and heads of other presidential administrations around the world have such guarantees," Latipov wrote.
Latipov also questioned how quickly the law was adopted. The lower legislative house approved it on August 6, the Senate on August 7, and Mirziyoev signed it on August 14, a remarkably short period for legislation of this significance, Latipov noted.
For Ilhomov, however, the most consequential change is the formal role Mirziyoeva now has in the security structures.
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That does not necessarily mean Mirziyoev is preparing to hand over the presidency anytime soon, or to tip his daughter as his chosen successor when his current term ends in 2030.
Ilhomov said the new arrangement should instead be viewed as a kind of backup system, a way to ensure that a trusted figure can maintain control of the state if unexpected developments prevent Mirziyoev from doing so.
"It is being done in case of a possible change of power under some extraordinary circumstances," Ilhomov said.