Uzbekistan’s Transformation: Strategies and Perspectives

parties represented in parliament at the time – whose 
programmes were almost identical. The election cam-
paign was correspondingly tame, but did offer Mirzi-
yoyev broad scope to exploit the administrative 
resources available to him as interim president,
11
and 
to publicise his programme. 
The latter essentially linked two apparently mutu-
ally exclusive concepts: a commitment to preserve 
Karimov’s political legacy and determination to pro-
ceed with urgently needed reforms. The demonstra-
tive promise of continuity, which was reiterated in 
all the new leader’s early speeches,
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was directed 
towards all those who had made themselves very com-
fortable under Karimov and were less than enthusias-
tic about the prospect of change. When Mirziyoyev 
underlined that his reform policies would adhere to 
his predecessor’s “Uzbek development model” he was 
letting the doubters know that they could trust him 
as Karimov’s political heir. 
Soon after taking office, Mirziyoyev underlined this 
message in a symbolic act of homage to his nation’s 
political culture: the construction of a mausoleum on 
Karimov’s grave in the grounds of a historic mosque 
in his native city of Samarkand. Since it opened in 
January 2018 the memorial has become a popular 
place of pilgrimage, complete with rituals characteris-
tic of holy sites.
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The sacralisation of power is firmly 
10 Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe/ 
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ 
ODHIR), Republic of Uzbekistan, Early Presidential Election 4 Decem-
ber 2016, OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report 
(Warsaw, 21 March 2017), https://www.osce.org/office-for-
democratic-institutions-and-human-rights/elections/uzbekistan/ 
306451?download=true (accessed 30 June 2020).