TASHKENT, March 15, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - A constitutional referendum set for late April in Uzbekistan will include a proposal to allow the nation's president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to run for another term in office, authorities announced Wednesday.

The proposed new constitution, which would amend two-thirds of the current basic law, will be put to a vote on April 30 in Central Asia's most populous country, home to some 35 million people.

The autocratic Mirziyoyev, who came to power in 2016, was re-elected for five years with more than 80 percent of the vote in October 2021 in an election that international observers said was devoid of real competition.

The constitutional amendment would allow the 65-year-old to stand for re-election in 2026 and, if re-elected, to remain in power until 2033 or even 2040.

According to a draft proposal, the president's term would be extended to seven years and candidates would "have the right to run... regardless of the number of consecutive terms" already served.

Validated almost unanimously by the two chambers of Parliament, the proposal also plans to make Uzbekistan a "social state" where "the human being, his life, his freedom, his honour and his dignity are the supreme values".

The constitutional amendment, which planned to reduce the autonomy of the republic of Karakalpakstan, a desert region of Uzbekistan and one of the poorest in the country, has been abandoned.

In July 2022, demonstrations broke out in Karakalpakstan to denounce the draft proposal, which resulted in an official death toll of 21 people, the internet being cut off and the declaration of a state of emergency.