Political outline

Executive Power

The President is both the chief of the state as well as the head of the government. He is elected by popular vote for a seven-year term. The President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and holds almost all the executive powers. He selects and replaces provincial governors. The Prime Minister and cabinet ministers are also directly appointed by the President with confirmation by the parliament.

Legislative Power

The legislature is bicameral in Uzbekistan. The parliament called Supreme Assembly consists of: the Senate (the upper house) having 100 seats with 84 members elected by regional governing councils to serve five-year terms and 16 are appointed by the President; and the Legislative Chamber (the lower house) having 120 seats with its members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. The President and the executive branch completely dominate the legislature and can dissolve it if they wish so. The Parliament meets only a few days every year and has little power to shape laws. The people of Uzbekistan have very limited political rights.

Main political parties

The government severely suppresses all political opposition. The five political parties represented in the Parliament, all supporters of President Islam Karimov, are:
- LDPU (Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party ) – advocates liberal and democratic economic values (41 seats)
- NDP (Uzbekistan People's Democratic Party) - former Communist Party, still broadly advocates communist ideology (33 seats)
- Fidokorlar (Self-Sacrifice National Democratic Party) - advocates building an open society based on market-economy while at the same time supporting national interests; targets youth as its support base (18 seats)
- Uzbekistan National Revival Democratic Party - advocates mainly revival of Uzbek culture, promoting solidarity with the rest of Central Asia (11 seats)
- Adolat (Justice) - (7 seats)

Current political leaders

President: Islam KARIMOV (since 1991, re-elected in 2000 and 2007)
Prime Minister: Shavkat MIRZIYOYEV (since December 2003) – non-partisan
First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam AZIMOV (since 2 January 2008)
President of the Lower house of the Parliament, leads the Adolat (Justice) party: Diloram TACHMOUHAMEDOVA
Vice-President of the Lower house of the Parliament, leads the People's Democratic party: Aslidin ROUSTAM
President of the National Center for Human Rights: Akmal SAIDOV
Birlik party, not officially recognized: Abdourahim POLAT
Erk party, not officially recognized: Mohammed SOLIH
Leader of the opposition party "My Radiant Uzbekistan": Sanyar OUMAROV

Next election dates

Presidential elections: December 2014
Legislative elections: December 2014