TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbek news agencies report that Uzbekistan’s parliament has appointed Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as the country’s interim president after the death of longtime President Islam Karimov.
Both houses of the Uzbek parliament made the decision at a joint session on September 8.
According to Uzbekistan’s Constitution, the head of the upper house of parliament, the Senate, would assume presidential authority for a period of three months if the president dies or is unable to perform duties. But the Senate Chairman, Nigmatulla Yuldashev, had refused to accept interim presidency.
The presidential election would be held during the nearest three months.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 59, graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Mechanization of Agriculture. He served as head of administration of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent.
Mirziyoyev has been Uzbekistan’s prime minister since 2003, making him the longest serving prime minister in Uzbekistan’s 25-year history as an independent country. Prior to that post, he was the governor of the Samarkand Province (2001-2003) and the Jizzakh Province (1996-2001).
Islam Karimov, who had ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist since 1989, died from a stroke at the age of 78. He was buried in his home city of Samarkand on September 3, a day after the Uzbek government officially announced his death.
