Uzbek leader wins referendum on extending powers

On Monday, early statistics showed that Uzbekistan’s referendum passed a package of constitutional revisions that will allow President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to seek for two more seven-year terms when his current one ends in 2026.

With 90.21% of Sunday’s vote, the reform resets Mirziyoyev’s term count and promises Central Asians more social and legal rights.

Mirziyoyev, 65, has liberalized the former Soviet republic’s economy, strengthened links with the West, and limited security forces’ influence, which had turned the 35-million-person nation into a police state.

Uzbekistan risks little by extending presidential powers because the West needs ex-Soviet republics to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.