Uzbekistan on Saturday amended its laws to devolve more power to parliament in a move a rights group said was aimed at securing a smooth power transfer from veteran leader Islam Karimov and placating a critical West. Karimov, 73, has ruled since 1989. The tough former Communist boss, who enjoys vast powers and brooks no dissent, is accused by human rights groups of violating basic freedoms and blocking democracy in the Central Asian nation of 28 million.
Predominantly Muslim Uzbekistan is a major producer of gold and cotton and also holds vast reserves of hydrocarbons. It lies on a cargo supply route for the US-led war in Afghanistan, and Karimov has struggled to improve ties with the United States and the European Union that soured after he suppressed an uprising in the city of Andizhan in 2005.
Last November, Karimov proposed to amend the constitution to allow parliamentarians to nominate their own candidate for prime minister and call a vote of no confidence in the premier. The Legislative Chamber lower house of parliament, which includes no opposition parties, voted on Friday to approve the proposed amendments. Few doubt that the loyal upper Senate house will now swiftly rubber-stamp the bill.
"This law seeks further democratisation of the state...a more balanced distribution of prerogatives among the branches of state power," parliament said in a statement on Saturday. Buried among other amendments was the revised article 96 of the constitution, which now says the head of the Senate would become acting head of state in the event that the president was no longer able to carry out his duties.
Previously, the article had been vague about the interim successor in the event that the head of state was unable to fulfil his duties specifically on health grounds. "The changes...indicate that the authorities might be carrying out the next stage of power transfer to a successor or successors from among the current political elite," Sukhrobjon Ismoilov, head of Uzbek human rights policy body, Expert Working Group, told Reuters by telephone from the capital Tashkent.
In Uzbekistan, the issue of finding a successor is a puzzle for analysts and investors. In 2002 Karimov, who has no sons and has not indicated who could succeed him, held a referendum that extended his five-year term to seven years. In 2007, he won another seven years in an election in which no opposition candidates were allowed to run.
The constitution lets one and the same person be elected president for no more than two consecutive seven-year terms. It remains unclear if Karimov will step down for good in 2014. If he cannot carry out his duties, he now must be replaced by the Senate head - currently Ilgizar Sobirov, a little-known 52-year-old lawyer and former district head of a tiny region.
Deputies left unchanged an article of the constitution saying that retiring presidents become senators-for-life - seen as a potential loophole for Karimov to return to the presidency. Karimov is also willing to show the West he is making good on earlier promises of some freedom for local political parties, albeit "under very strict government control", Ismoilov said.