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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Uzbekistan
Index
From the beginning of his presidency, Karimov remained committed in
words to instituting democratic reforms. A new constitution was adopted by
the legislature in December 1992. Officially it creates a separation of
powers among a strong presidency, the Oly Majlis, and a judiciary. In
practice, however, these changes have been largely cosmetic. Uzbekistan
remains among the most authoritarian states in Central Asia. Although the
language of the new constitution includes many democratic features, it can
be superseded by executive decrees and legislation, and often
constitutional law simply is ignored.
The president, who is directly elected to a five-year term that can be
repeated once, is the head of state and is granted supreme executive power
by the constitution. As commander in chief of the armed forces, the
president also may declare a state of emergency or of war. The president
is empowered to appoint the prime minister and full cabinet of ministers
and the judges of the three national courts, subject to the approval of
the Oly Majlis, and to appoint all members of lower courts. The president
also has the power to dissolve the parliament, in effect negating the Oly
Majlis's veto power over presidential nominations in a power struggle
situation.
Deputies to the unicameral Oly Majlis, the highest legislative body, are
elected to five-year terms. The body may be dismissed by the president
with the concurrence of the Constitutional Court; because that court is
subject to presidential appointment, the dismissal clause weights the
balance of power heavily toward the executive branch. The Oly Majlis
enacts legislation, which may be initiated by the president, within the
parliament, by the high courts, by the procurator general (highest law
enforcement official in the country), or by the government of the
Autonomous Province of Karakalpakstan. Besides legislation, international
treaties, presidential decrees, and states of emergency also must be
ratified by the Oly Majlis.
The national judiciary includes the Supreme Court, the Constitutional
Court, and the High Economic Court. Lower court systems exist at the
regional, district, and town levels. Judges at all levels are appointed by
the president and approved by the Oly Majlis. Nominally independent of the
other branches of government, the courts remain under complete control of
the executive branch. As in the system of the Soviet era, the procurator
general and his regional and local equivalents are both the state's chief
prosecuting officials and the chief investigators of criminal cases, a
configuration that limits the pretrial rights of defendants.
Data as of March 1996
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