Uzbekistan has finally addressed the “legal gap” in regulating activities of the Administration of the President vis-a-vis other state bodies. At least, this is how the president’s press secretary, Sherzod Asadov, framed a new constitutional law that strengthens the administration’s status, grants lifetime immunity to its officials and extends its outreach.
The Legislative Chamber passed the Law on the Administration of the President on August 6; the Senate approved it the very next day. There was no public discussion and the body of the law was not disclosed before the president signed it on August 14.
The administration was launched to “provide information, analytical, organizational and supervisory support for the activities of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan” in 2018, two years after Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power. In 2018-2022 it was headed by Zaynilobiddin Nizomiddinov, and in 2022-2023 by Sardor Umurzakov.
In that time, Mirziyoyev’s eldest daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, served as a deputy director of the Agency for Information and Mass Communications under the administration in 2019-2020, and as a deputy chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Fund for Support and Development of Mass Media in 2020-2022.
She started working as head of the Department for Communications and Information Policy of the Executive Office of the Presidential Administration in 2022 before becoming an assistant to the president in August 2023. At the same time, Umurzakov was moved to another position and the head-of-administration post was abolished. In June 2025 the post was re-established, and Mirziyoyeva was appointed as the head of the administration.
The new law, which consists of four chapters and 34 articles, extends the first daughter’s power. The document establishes that the head of the administration is not elected, but appointed and dismissed by the president himself. The Legislative Chamber’s approval is not required, as it is with the prime minister post. Not only can the administration now “issue mandatory instructions and assignments to heads of state bodies and organizations” (article 7), but punish those who fail at their job with “disciplinary actions,” and even fire them.
The law also gives Mirziyoyeva control over regional hokims (governors). The administration can monitor the implementation of all presidential orders, organize the legal and administrative process for the president to appoint and dismiss regional governors, and dismiss district and city hokims for breaking the law or any other improper behavior (article 18). The administration can do all of this while having direct access to the database of any government institution (article 7).
Article 19 directly collides with the institutional independence of the judicial system. The article spells out that the administration, a body with no judicial function or independent accountability, “coordinates reforms in the judicial and legal sphere [and] develops proposals for reforming the judicial system.” This essentially means that the presidential administration can take part in shaping the country’s judicial-legal reform directly.
The administration will also take over the anti-corruption compliance system. Mirziyoyeva will appoint and dismiss “deputies (advisors) of heads of state bodies and organizations at the republican level for compliance and internal control against corruption” (article 21) The Diplomat earlier reported that each government institution now has deputies for compliance and internal control against corruption in all state agencies, which directly report to the presidential administration. This essentially means that people now have to report governmental level corruption cases to a government body that has no mechanisms for accountability, but has its officials guaranteed lifetime immunity against any criminal charge, arrest, or inspection.
Only Uzbekistan’s prosecutor general can initiate a criminal case against staff of the presidential administration, whose immunity after their departure from a post is to last for five years and any cases related to such staff will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, officials in the presidential administration, such as its head, now have a lifetime immunity. Some protection also applies to the family members (spouses, children, and parents) of presidential administration officials and staff, extending to privacy of personal and professional life, not legal impunity.
Beyond these significant changes, the law also grants the head of the presidential administration an automatic appointment as deputy chair of the Security Council and through the Security Council’s Secretariat “ensures the President’s constitutional powers relating to the Armed Forces, defense, mobilization, security, and emergency situations.” Therefore, Mirziyoyeva will be able to exercise authority over the country’s armed forces and national security apparatus.
The new Law On the Administration of the President sends a couple of important signals. First, it legally codifies what the first daughter has already been doing – exercising power with no accountability or limit. She is not elected by the people but appointed by her father. Second, it establishes in the law a failsafe mechanism in case something happens to the president before his current term runs out.
Third, Mirziyoyeva is clearly not just the president’s daughter, but is being positioned as a potential successor. Her training days are over. Now she is being trusted with the highest level tasks, with the ability to command almost all government institutions, monitor their actions, and demand accountability at her will, all while having lifelong immunity for her own actions.