Uzbek media reports say twenty-seven new articles are expected to be added to Uzbekistan’s Constitution.
A joint meeting of the Qonunchilik Palatasi (Uzbekistan’s lower house of parliament) committees responsible for the preparation of the draft Constitutional Law took place on March 7 to discuss issues related to combating corruption, judicial and legal problems, as well as democratic institutions, non-governmental organizations and citizens' self-government bodies.
The meeting reportedly examined in detail the work carried out to improve the draft of the updated Constitution.
UzDaily reports that it was stressed at the meeting that the updated Constitution will unite the whole society around the idea of building a developed state – a New Uzbekistan, the interests of all strata will be taken into account, and the general public, political parties, public organizations, representatives of expert and scientific circles, intellectuals actively participated in the development of the project.
It was noted that during the national discussions more than 220,000 proposals had been received, and every fourth proposal was included in the draft of the updated Constitution.
The draft Constitutional Law reportedly introduces 27 new articles into the current Constitution, the number of which thereby increases from 128 to 155, the current 275 constitutional norms have reached 434, that is the current Constitution has been updated by 65%.
The Constitution's principle “state – society – person” will be changed to “person – society – state”. The interests of the person "will be put above all else". Uzbekistan is planned to be declared a social state, tripling the norms of the state's social obligations, gazeta.uz reported.
The number of senators is planned to be reduced from the current 100 to 65, the powers of the chairmen of the council of people's deputies and heads of administrations will be divided.