Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Dec. 5 / Trend, D. Azizov /
At a meeting on Monday the Uzbek Senate (Upper House of Parliament) approved a law amending the Constitution article, which envisages changing the presidential term from seven to five years.
A law on amending constitutional term of the republic's president was adopted by the Legislative (lower) House on Nov. 10, 2011 and is President Islam Karimov's legislative initiative, chairperson of the Senate Committee for Legislation, Judicial and Legal Affairs Svetlana Artikova said.
She said that the draft law was initiated by President Islam Karimov given processes occurring in the country to strengthen the democratic principles of governance, Parliament's role and importance in carrying out socio-economic, socio-political reforms, as well as " practice of state-building, adopted in most developed democratic countries".
The Constitution of Uzbekistan was amended (April 2003) as a result of the referendum held in January 2002. The amendments envisaged electing president for seven years, instead of previous five years in Uzbekistan.
In 2007, presidential elections were held in Uzbekistan, during which Islam Karimov was elected as Uzbek president for a period of seven years for the first time.