Shavkat Mirziyoyev

Shavkat Mirziyoyev, born July 24, 1957, in Zomin District, has served as the second President of Uzbekistan since December 14, 2016, becoming acting president after Islam Karimov's death and winning the 2016 election with 88.6 percent of the vote, then being re-elected in 2021 and again in 2023. He leads the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party and previously served as Prime Minister under Karimov from 2003 to 2016, and as governor of the Jizzakh and Samarqand regions before that. His presidency has featured liberal reforms including political prisoner releases and the closure of Jaslyk Prison in 2019, alongside constitutional amendments on human rights, and he has chaired the Organization of Turkic States since 2022. He holds a candidate of sciences degree in technological sciences from the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration.